Easy Floral Monogram DIY Craft

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast here. Lots of sun, food, and pool. We don't have any immediate family who died in service but my husband who always wanted to join the military but wasn't allowed to decided to remember the fallen and celebrate their lives anyway.

My 2 daughters, Niece, and I also decided to do some DIY Floral Monograms. It was so fun! Here are their finished Monograms.

And this is the project I was inspired by.




What we did differently:

Since I found a white base & we weren't going for such a full look as in the video we decided not to paint the monogram. It worked well without any prep and we bought all of the letters from Michaels. We also bought all of the flowers except 3 of the bouquets from Michaels. The other 3 were bought at Dollar Tree.

Pumpkin Pancakes

The obsession continues! 

Pumpkin this and pumpkin that, Id even eat pumpkin with a bat! 

Well when I start rhyming like Dr. Seuss its probably time to just post a recipe, sooooo...shall we?

My friend julie has been begging me for this recipe for a week now. 

I originally had planned to post it last week right after i made them for everyone, but between prepping for halloween festivities & taking a much needed trip to Santa Cruz for my sons 16th birthday things got crazy. 

So here ya go Julie! Recipe time! 

Once again i feel the need to remind you all im not big for measuring things. I am an eyeball & see what works kind of cook so i will be adapting my own recipe to the general pancake mix recipe for you all to follow but i prefer a little thicker batter so get creative if you are a rebel like me hehe. 

So after you have the batter to your liking follow these steps and make sure to adjust to your own preference. I love pumpkin flavor so this is a very strong pumpkiny flavor. 

2 Heaping Cups of pumpkin (not pie filling) 

1 Cup brown sugar

1 Tsp pumpkin pie filling

Whisk all ingredients into pancake mix until smooth 

I like to make big pancakes so i use the 1 cup to drizzle batter into hot buttered pan & then some. 

Each side takes about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes 

I hope you all enjoy them as much as we did and as always please leave feedback or questions if you would like. 

Almond Meringue Cookies

Hi everyone!
I'm going to share a holiday staple from my house, to yours today.
I've been baking these for a few years now and my family definitely expects these to be around the house come Autumn. They are super easy to make, Delicious, Light & Airy, & you can use so many different flavor combinations, It's great! This recipe usually makes 2 batches depending on size.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 Tsp Almond Emulsion
1 Tsp Cream of Tartar
3/4 cup sugar ( I tend to use less because I like mine less sweet)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 225
Whip egg whites on low until frothy, then add  Cream of Tartar slowly.

Continue to whip on low until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar & Almond emulsion & turn to medium speed & continue to whip until stiff peaks form & will stand up on their own. Spoon mix onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper & bake for 2 - 3 hours. Let cool for 1 hour before eating.

Enjoy these yummy cookies & feel free to share your experience with me on my blog!

Angels Yam CakeBake

Happy 7th Birthday to the baby of the bunch! My Angel girl (that's her nick and middle name) turned 7 today and being low on funds and energy I decided to do a cake that was as unique as my youngest child. And man, this is some unique stuff I'm about to share! I can almost guarantee that this probably has never been done before (my twisted little mind is a plethora of unique) and while it may sound as odd as a duck wearing a raincoat, I can assure you it tastes FANTASTIC! 

1 can Princella Yams
1/2 Bag of Angel Food Cake
Molasses
Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
4 tbs Butter/Margarine
2 tsps Flour or Corn starch

Preheat oven to 350°

In cake pan empty can of yams & distribute evenly across pan (mostly drained)

Drizzle molasses and condensed milk over yams until all of them have a drizzle.

Combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon , and flour until creamy smooth and then spread over yams.

Place in oven and bake for 10 min. Take pan out and fold angel food cake mix into yams. Place in oven again and bake until mix rises and is golden brown.

Please excuse the angel food white mess around the pan , i am not known for my neatness. 

Lemon Coconut Asparagus & Shrimp

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Hope the weather is improving where you are. Its been extremely warm here in California the last 3 days. Were talking Mid 80s! I personally dont like warm weather. I am a Rain & Clouds kinda girl. 

I miss the fall & winter when spring is even mentioned. 

Anywho. There are some upsides to warm weather. And that would be... seasonal VEGGIES! 

Case in point....Asparagus. 

There are a few different types of asparagus, (I just learned this , this spring) and I bet they're all delicious.

 I however stuck to what I know, which is the thick long asparagus.

I had  originally intended to make some coconut lime shrimp skewers from a recipe I found on Pinterest, since my husband was grilling tri-tip,  but when I got home from the store yesterday I realized id forgotten the lime & coconut milk. (Insert  Harry Nilsson song here) 

Then i re-read the recipe and it calls for at least an hour of marinading so I scratched it. 

Im glad i did though because I came up with this recipe in a matter of 5 minutes using what I had on hand . Now for this one i didnt measure anything out . It was mostly drizzles. Im not exactly what you would call a technical cook but what I lack in measurements ,i made up for in taste!   

  Hope you enjoy it as much my kids & I did! 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

I also toasted some coconut ahead of time and rolled them in it before it was served.
We really love our coconut

Ingredients

1 stalk of thick asparagus

Large Peeled & deveined shrimp ( About 20 of them)

Lemon Juice (drizzle to taste) 

Olive Oil (drizzle to taste) 

Pinch of Coarse Sea Salt

Honey (drizzle to taste) 

Balsamic Vinegar (drizzle to taste) 

Sweet Coconut Flakes (a handful)

Place asparagus on cookie sheet and separate.
Spread shrimp throughout

Drizzle liquid ingredients to your own taste

Spread coconut flakes as even as ya can across the asparagus

Bake on 400 for about 20 minutes or until Asparagus is tender but firm. 

Serve Immediately.

Easy Baked Tilapia with Cream Sauce

I love cooking Tilapia.

  Its such a universal fish. I can think of 5 different recipes off the top of my head right now that I've made that are completely different then the next. And it cooks fast which is always a plus in my house! Heres a recipe I made a few nights ago on a whim & an hour til dinner.

Ingredients for fish

6 tilapia thawed 1 large lemon cut into slices Salt & Pepper to taste In a glass baking dish add fish filets & salt pepper to taste. Place slices of lemon on top & a tab of butter per filet.(or drizzle olive oil)

For Sauce

1 yellow onion chopped up into small pieces

2 tbs of garlic powder (depending how much you like the taste more or less)

4 cups of heavy whipped cream (can substitute with half & half)

3 tbs of butter to add to cream and 1tbs for saute' or 2tbs of olive oil for saute'

1 cup white wine In medium saucepan use medium heat & melt 1bs butter. Add onion and garlic powder. Saute' until onions are softened and butter is mostly evaporated. Add white wine & simmer for 4 minutes

Add cream and stir in remaining butter and whisk consistently until sauce thickens. Bake Tilapia at 400 for 25 minutes or until fish flakes with fork (say that 5 times fast!) Plate tilapia and drizzle cream sauce over filets. I served these with broccoli & lemon wedges (sorry didn't get the pictures after they were plated & sauce was on but they were delicious)

  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! Hope ya like it!

And don't forget to comment and let me know you tried it. All feedback is welcome!

This recipe was written by me. Any similarities to other recipes is purely coincidental.

Fruity Pebble Treats

As a kid I loved eating rice krispies .

 I mean , They TALKED man!

As an adult with a pretty well refined palette....not so much.

I know people had used different cereals before so I decided id use some fruity pebbles because

A: I love them! and B: They were on sale at Winco . SCORE!

I have to say the kids were so excited to eat these that half way through dinner I was being asked

"Mommy are you still making fruity pebble treats?"

I did I did.

Here's my recipe, which yes does have an extra special ingredient that most will find weird, but I assure you, It kicks up the flavor!

Ingredients

5 cups Marshmallows

6 Cups Fruity Pebbles

4 Tbs of butter

1/2 tsp  Cayenne

You Will Need: Baking Dish, Large plastic bowl, Saucepan & Ingredients

Spray baking dish with non stick spray, set aside.

Place Fruity Pebbles in large plastic bowl.

In large saucepan , melt butter on low heat until its completely melted.
Add cayenne and stir.

Add marshmallows and stir constantly until marshmallows are melted and combined with butter.

Turn off heat.

Add the melted marshmallow mix into the large plastic bowl & combine quickly.

Then put into the greased baking dish & pat down until desired thickness/and/or shape.

Chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Voila!

Easy Peasy.

Hope you enjoy!

XXXOOO

Melody

This recipe was written by me. Any similarities to other recipes is purely coincidental.