Showing posts with label Sponsored Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sponsored Post. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Hostess Apple Cinnamon Donettes Reindeer Pops

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hostess Cakes for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Hostess Donette Reindeer Pops
The holiday season is in full swing now and my kids are so excited. When I was asked to sample the new Hostess Apple Cinnamon Donettes, I thought it was the perfect excuse to throw a mini welcome to the holidays party for my kiddos. So I made a batch of my Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Cider and made a few of the Apple Cinnamon Donettes into these cute little reindeer pops and surprised them after school.  
Though not nearly as cute, these were inspired by Bakerella's Reindeer Cake Pops. Mine look slightly more concerned than hers do, but I love that you can use just a few things to create a special memory. 
If you want to make something similar, here is what you will need. 
Supplies needed:
Paper Straws or lollipop sticks
Candy Eyes
Square Pretzels
Red Peanut Candies
Royal Icing
Wooden skewer or toothpick
Hostess Apple Cinnamon Donettes




Step 1: Prepare royal icing according to directions and fill a plastic storage bag. Snip one small corner off the bag. 
Step 2: Insert straw into Donette. Leave Donette laying flat while you work.
Step 3: Use skewer to poke holes for eyes. Fill holes with royal icing and stick candy eyes on.
Step 3: Fill center of Donette with royal icing and place red candy inside. 
Step 4: Carefully cut pretzels in half with serrated knife and push into sides of Donette to create antlers. 
Step 5: Let icing dry and serve. 



Hostess has also been nice enough to offer one of my readers a free bag of Apple Cinnamon Donettes. Just leave a comment telling me about your small celebrations with your family. The winner will be chosen at random on November 30th, 2012. Please make sure you leave your email address so you can be contacted if you win! 


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Monday, November 12, 2012

Twice Baked Potatoes - Two Ways




In our family, Thanksgiving means a big variety of food. Everyone's favorites are included. Potatoes are pretty high on my list of favorites, so I thought it would be fun to include twice baked potatoes, made two different ways. A fluffy twice baked russet potato and a tender twice baked sweet potato, a twist on traditional mashed potatoes. 

Twice Baked Potatoes

The really great thing about both of these recipes is that they can be made a day or two ahead of time, and then popped in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. 


Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes


Twice Baked Potatoes

Serves 4-8

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes
4 tablespoons of Country Crock Spread 
2 oz of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup of half and half
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
Sour cream and green onions for garnish

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash and dry potatoes. Prick potato several times with a fork and bake for about one hour, or until tender. Remove from oven and once potato is cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to cut potato in half long ways. 

Scoop potatoes out and into a medium size bowl. Leave a thin layer of potato in the shell, enough so the potato skins can still stand on their own. 

Use a potato masher to combine potatoes, Country Crock Spread, softened cream cheese, salt and pepper. Mash until smooth. Stir in half and half. 

Lay potato shells on a foil lined baking sheet and spoon mashed potatoes into shells. If making ahead, wrap baking sheet and potatoes in plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

Bake potatoes, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until heated through and golden brown.

Top with sour cream and green onions. 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

serves 4-8

Ingredients

4 large sweet potatoes
4 tablespoons of Country Crock Spread
2 tablespoons of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 cup of toasted pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of miniature marshmallows 
Additional pecans and marshmallows for garnish


Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.


Wash and dry potatoes. Prick potato several times with a fork and bake on a foil lined baking sheet for 45 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven and once potato is cool enough to handle, use a serrated knife to cut potato in half long ways. 

Scoop sweet potatoes out and into a medium size bowl. Leave a thin layer of sweet potato in the shell, enough so the sweet potato skins can still stand on their own. 

Use a potato masher to combine potatoes, Country Crock Spread, brown sugar, and salt. Mash until smooth. Stir in pecans and marshmallows. 

Lay potato shells on a foil lined baking sheet and spoon mashed potatoes into shells. If making ahead, wrap baking sheet and potatoes in plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

Bake potatoes, uncovered for 15 minutes or until heated through. Keep on eye on the marshmallows as they will brown quickly.

Garnish with additional pecans and marshmallows. 

I'd love for you to keep up on my new posts and recipes by clicking on these cute buttons below, and follow me on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find me on Pinterest, that's my favorite place to hang out and I'd love to see you there!


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Thanks for reading!
Melissa

Linking up with: Tatertots & Jello

Thank you to Good to Know & Unilever Spreads for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

DIY Painted Ceramic Mugs with Martha Stewart Glass Paint and Stencils



I'm so excited to share this fun project today. I painted these ceramic mugs with supplies from the new Martha Stewart Glass Paint line. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to test drive some of the new products last month, and I had a million ideas for projects. But when I opened the letter stencils and saw all the punctuation, I was immediately inspired to make these sweet little emoticon coffee cups. Grab one, and let your coworkers or family know what kind of mood you are in that morning.  



Here is a peek at some of the fun products in the line. The paints work on glass or ceramic, and the accessories include a big variety of stencils and silk screen prints. Of course, everything is gorgeous and tasteful, like all Martha products!

Supplies for this project: 

Ceramic Coffee Cups
Martha Stewart Crafts Glass Paint in Opaque Finish
Martha Stewart Crafts Adhesive Stencils
Martha Stewart Glass Paint Stenciling Tools
Soap and Water
Rubbing Alcohol

Step One: Grab a glass or ceramic surface. I found these big mugs on clearance at Target. Wash them well with hot soapy water, then prep surface by cleaning with alcohol to make sure there are no residues from soap or stickers. This is very important because the paint needs a clean surface to adhere properly. 



Step Two: Organize the supplies. I used the letter stencils, the smallest pouncer and dauber in the tool kit, and the Glass paint in Glossy Opaque and Metallic Opaque. 



Step Three: I placed the adhesive stencils on the clean dry cup. You only need a tiny bit of paint, so I squeezed some out onto a paper plate. Initially, I used the foam pouncer shown in the picture, but then switched to the small dauber tool also included in the package. It has a firmer spongy texture that gave me better control on the small surface. 


Step Four: Pick up a small amount of paint on the dauber and off-load the excess onto a paper towel. Carefully apply the paint with a light tapping motion until the stencil is filled in. 


Step Five: Carefully remove the stencil while the paint is still wet. Since I was taking pictures as I worked and the paint dries so quickly, a little bit of the edge of the nose lifted up. I touched it up with one of the very small paint brushes in the Martha Stewart line. Wash the stencil while the paint is still wet and return it to the backing sheet. 


Step Six: Make as many emoticon friends as you want! The gold one is for the mornings you are feeling a little sassy, and the red one is for those meh mornings, before you have had your coffee. 





Step Seven: Allow the paint to cure by letting it air dry for 21 days, or, to cure quickly, bake the item in an oven. To cure in an oven, place the glass or ceramic item in a cold oven, then set it to 350 degrees. Turn the oven off after 30 minutes and let the item cool in the oven. Wait 72 hours before using. They do not recommend oven curing the glitter paints. 





Once they are fully cured, they are top rack dishwasher safe. You can use these fun little guys every morning! So which one fits your morning personality?

Be sure to check out all the fun ideas using Martha Stewart glass paint on the Plaid site. So much inspiration! 


You can find even more inspiration by following Plaid:



I'd love for you to keep up on my new posts and recipes by clicking on these cute buttons below, and follow me on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find me on Pinterest, that's my favorite place to hang out and I'd love to see you there!


Follow Me on Pinterest



Thanks for reading!
Melissa



Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

LeapFrog Touch Magic Learning Bus




LeapFrog was kind enough to send us a new Touch Magic Learning Bus to have some fun with. My little girl loves it. Sadie is almost three, and all of a sudden she is making that huge leap with counting and letter recognition. So the Touch Magic Learning Bus could not have come at a better time. Of course, anything that incorporates music is a winner in her book...and mine. 


Like the Touch Magic Rockin' Guitar I posted about last week, the Learning Bus uses LeapFrog's new touch technology to recognize and respond to touches and swipes from little fingers. This makes it completely intuitive for kids. Sadie sat down and was using it right away. I didn't have to show her what to do, or explain anything to her. 

I love the smooth Touch Magic interface. I can easily give it a quick wipe down without having to worry about mystery nooks and crannies. With school starting for us next week, germs are going to be a issue. Not to gross anybody out or anything, but let me just say two words: Stomach flu. It's not pretty, but it's out there, and it reeks havoc on toys and blankets. It's nice to have a smooth wipeable toy, right?





Sadie loves that she can play with the letters, the piano keys, or the cute animals in the top window. Even the wheels add a drum sound.

Our favorite thing to do is sit down and play with it together. She likes to show me what everything does. Learning through teaching, it's the best way! Plus I get to have some snuggle time, while she gets some play time. It's been great for early morning couch time in our PJs!

My not so little guy Max, who is going into first grade, likes to play with it too. He likes the game mode. It asks him specific questions, or tells him to touch a certain letter, and he loves getting it right.

In fact, the other day they were using it to play school together. They had it set up on the vintage school desk in Max's room and were taking turns being the teacher. Those stinkers wouldn't let me get a picture though. But that's ok, I just sat back and took a mental snapshot of them playing together so sweetly. 


We are big fans of LeapFrog in our house, and we definitely love this new line of toys. They keep the kids engaged, and playtime smoothly transitions into learning time. 

Check out more about the Touch Magic Learning Bus here

Thanks for reading!
Melissa

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and was given free product by LeapFrog.  The content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
 
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