Delicious Oatmeal Chocolate chip Cookies

What you'll need:

sticks of butter, softened
1 1.2 cups brown sugar, packed (push it tightly into the measuring cup)
2 tsp of Vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups of Oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp Baking POWDER
1 tsp Cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Chocolate chips (or 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips)
1 cup of nuts (optional)

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, vanilla and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mix together.

add oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix on low speed until blended.

add Chocolate chips, nuts or rasins

place a spoon full onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown around the bottom.

let set for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack until fully cooled.

Mini pumpkin pies

Mini Pumpkin pies

What you'll need:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) of pumpkin. Try baking down a real pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

 Combine all of the ingredients together. Mix thoroughly.

 While the filling is mixing you need to either make your dough or roll out your store bought dough.

Simple Pie crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp vinigar
2-3TBLspoons milk

Combine all together, mix it until it forms a ball. Flour the surface and roll it out thin. To make the mini pumpkin pies use either a bowl, or in my case the pumpkin pie can (the bigger one that makes two pies)

place in greased cupcake pan

you may need to do a bit of stretching with your fingers to make the dough fit. Pour in pie filling until it almost reaches the top.

Bake at 250 degrees for 25 minutes.

Also try  Dutch Apple pie:

• 5 large Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter

My Cross-stitches

 If you don't know the basics of cross-stitch, check out my other post here

This is the Snow White Cross-stitch I made for my daughter who loves Snow White.

This was in a book that my sister gave me of Disney cross-stitches. I had to change a couple colors to make it look better.

This is the Cross-stitch I made for my daughters bedroom

This cross-stitch was made for my daughters pre-school teacher.  The blank spots are where the names are.

Her teacher had used the picture (not owned by either of us) at the bottom of her letters that she would send home. 

 Using a Cross-stitch software my friend turned it into a pattern for me. I then stitched it one the cloth, changing little things like the color of hair for the little girl jumping to resemble my daughter. No book or glasses for the little boy

The Minick Family Kolač Recipe

Kolač  is a sweet dough with a nut filling.  I would love to share my Grandpa's family's recipe with you. I am going to write it exactly how he wrote it. I love you a bushel and a peck Grandpa! Miss you :(


Basic  Sweet Dough 
1&1/2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1 stick of margarine
1&1/2 cups warm water (100-115 degrees)
3 packages of  yeast
4 eggs
9&1/2 to 10 cups of flour


1.Measure water and pour into a bowl. Stir in yeast. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to activate the yeast.
2.Add margarine to milk. heat milk and margarine in microwave for about 2 minutes.

3.Add sugar and salt to margerine-milk mixture. Add cold beaten eggs. The cold eggs help to cool the milk-margerine mixture.
4.Add yeast. Turn on mixer for a few seconds
5.Add half the flour and mix for 2 minutes.

6. Add remaining flour and mix for about 5 minutes. Dough will be very sticky.

7. Leave dough in bowl, cover with a paper towel and place in a warm draft-free place. The oven is perfect. Turn the oven on to warm for about 2 minutes, turn it off, and place the bowl of dough inside. After one hour, remove the bowl from the oven. Dough will have doubled or nearly doubled in bulk.


Before:

After

Kolač-- A Nut-filled Roll That Looks Like A Jelly Roll

1. Use the same sweet-dough recipe as for the caramel-topped rolls.
2. After dough has doubled in bulk, punch down and divide into 4 parts. Then divide each of the 4 parts into 2 parts, thus yielding 8 parts.
3. Roll out each part (one at a time) the the size of a cookie sheet (10 x 15).  The rolled-out dough will be very thin.

4. Coat the rolled-out dough generously with margerine and then with the nut paste described below.

5. Roll up dough like a jelly roll and place it with seam down on the 10 x 15 cookie sheet. The cookie sheet can hold two rolls.

6. Place in oven immediately and bake at 350 to 375 for 25 minutes.

Nut Paste
2bs ground nuts (pecans or walnuts) Grandpa Minick always said if he was feeling rich he used walnuts.
1&3/4 cups sugar
1&1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


Stir the mixture to make an easy spreading paste. More milk may be necessary.
Divide the paste into 8 equal parts, one part for each of therolled-out portion of dough

Grandpa Minicks Famous Sticky Buns

When I was little, my grandpa would bake these, just because. Then he would drive over to our house and neighbors houses, just to share these delicious treats. I'm going to write the recipe exactly as I have it from him. I love you a bushel and a peck Grandpa! Miss you :(

STICKY BUNS
Use the basic sweet-dough recipe given here, which makes 3 dozen rolls. Or use your own favorite recipe.

Basic  Sweet Dough 
1&1/2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons salt
1 stick of margarine
1&1/2 cups warm water (100-115 degrees)
3 packages of  yeast
4 eggs
9&1/2 to 10 cups of flour


1.Measure water and pour into a bowl. Stir in yeast. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to activate the yeast.
2.Add margarine to milk. heat milk and margarine in microwave for about 2 minutes.

3.Add sugar and salt to margerine-milk mixture. Add cold beaten eggs. The cold eggs help to cool the milk-margerine mixture.
4.Add yeast. Turn on mixer for a few seconds
5.Add half the flour and mix for 2 minutes.

6. Add remaining flour and mix for about 5 minutes. Dough will be very sticky.

7. Leave dough in bowl, cover with a paper towel and place in a warm draft-free place. The oven is perfect. Turn the oven on to warm for about 2 minutes, turn it off, and place the bowl of dough inside. After one hour, remove the bowl from the oven. Dough will have doubled or nearly doubled in bulk.



Before:

After

Ccarmel Topping
1. While the dough is rising, combine 2 cups of light brown sugar, 1 stick of margerine, and 1/2 cup of light corn syrup. Place on burner and boil for 1 minute.
2. Pour hot caramel mixture into three 9 by 13-inch pans, approximately 1/3 into each pan. Allow to cool and sprinkle with nuts (Pecans, or walnuts, or whatever).


Forming the rolls
1.After the dough has doubled in bulk, punch down, and divide into 3 parts.
2. Either flour your table top or grease it with shortening.

3. Roll out one of the three portions of dough into a 10 by 12-inch rectangle (approximately).

4. Coat the top surface of the rectagle dough with margerine or shortening. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar over the surface. Sprinkle cinnamon over the sugar.

5. Roll up the dough like a jelly roll.

6. Cut the roll into 12 pieces. Start by cutting the roll in half, then cut each half into halves. Finally, cut each of the 4 pieces into thirds.

7. Place the pieces on the caramel mixture, with the outside ends of each piece touching a neighboring piece. This keeps the individual pieces from unrolling as they begin to rise.

8. Allow the rolls to rise for about an hour or more. Again, the oven is a good place. Usually the dough swells until the entire surface of the pan is covered.
9.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350.
10. Remove from oven and cool for 1 minute.
11. Place a sheet of aluminum foil (slightly larger than the pan) over a piece of cardboard or section of newspaper. Invert the pan of hot rolls over the foil and the rolls will be released from the pan. Remove any remaining caramel topping and nuts from the pan and spread onto the rolls.
12. Enjoy the rolls.

***

Cream Cheese Frosting.

Since my daughters can not have sticky things, I made my Grandpa Minick Sticky Buns with a Cream cheese frosting.


1 package or cream cheese
1/4 cup of butter
1 & 1/2 cup powder sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla.


Mix together in mixer. When it's fully blended, wait 5 minutes before icing.

Saint Patricks Days Crafts

What you'll need:
four leaf clover template
Leprechaun template ( I can't find my original one and this one is less scary looking;)  )
Green Ribbon
Black, Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue and Purple construction paper

Four Leaf clovers:
First I printed the four leaf clover template and cut it out. Next I traced more copies onto green paper and cut them out. My daughters and I hung them up all over the house and used the green ribbon to hang them from the ceiling to make a fancy chandelier.


Lucky the Leprechaun, rainbow and pot of gold.
Every year we put up our rainbow and leprechaun. On the morning of Saint Patrick's day they are always surprised to see  chocolate coins at the end of our rainbow!
I cut out 2 pieces at a  time, shaping them into a rainbow. (see picture above).... which is probably the worst explanation...but I made this stuff three years ago.

Leprechauns & pot of gold toilet paper rolls

What you'll need:
Two and a half rolls of toilet paper
Green paint
Brown paint (or you could use yarn)
Skin color paint
Black paint
Black sharpie
Yellow and Green Felt

First paint the 3/4's of the tube green. The top half will be skin color. (Except the man, whose top will be green for the hat!) Let it dry. Next add on the brown hair or yarn & beard for the man. Let dry. take your half tube and paint it black.

For The gold I drew little circles on yellow felt and cut them out.
For woman: I drew small shamrocks and cut and glued them to her head.
For Hat: I traced the outline of the tube and then made a bigger circle around it. Then I cut the center out & slid it down the roll when it was dry.
With a Sharpie I added eyes and the details of the clothes.


Here are my St. Pattys cupcakes.

Mix the box according to the package. divide evenly into smaller bowls and add food coloring. Line cupcake pans and pour thin layer of each color into the pans.  Bake according to package.
I then iced the cupcakes and drew shamrocks onto the tops


Here are other Saint Patricks day crafts.



DLTK's St. Patricks Day crafts

Kindle Fire Case pattern/ Ipad/tablet case

My husband just got a Kindle Fire and we wanted a case for it to keep it safe during travel. After searching I found several I liked, but hated the price. So I decided to come up with my own.

What you'll need:
*An old book you don't want that is the same size as your Kindle/IPad, etc...
*Two pieces of felt
*Hot glue gun & sticks
*2 sets of Fabric (mine are from the small bundle packs you buy at Wal*Mart)
*Elastic
*Cardboard (From goldfish or cheeze-its)
*Needle & Thread

First, my husband pulled the paper out of a book (Sorry, Dr. Suess)

Remove your tablet & hot glue the pieces of felt on both sides of the book.

Place felt covered book on fabric

 Hot glue the remaining fabric to the book.

With your bunny Graham or goldfish box, cut it down to fit the inside of your book..

Cut a piece of fabric that same size & glue it to the left corner (make sure it covers the bend in the book). Save the cardboard for later.

Cut a piece of elastic the height of your book. pin it to the inside of the folded part of the book (look where my pin is)

Hand stitch it into place


 Remember that piece of cardboard? Well, you need it now. You'll need to cover the piece of cardboard in fabric just like you did the book (excluding the felt). Not Shown

Then take four pieces of elastic and sew the elastic onto the four corners of the cardboard back (into the fabric, not the board) Not Shown

Your last step will be to hot glue the fabric covered cardboard piece into place.

 Opened:

Closed

Using this same idea you can make a photo album with a 3 ring binder.