Tinkerbell Houses

If you're going to have a Tinkerbell Movie Night, of course you must decorate a home for your favorite fairy! These look hard, but they're really not. Just think gingerbread houses, but 3-sided. Let's do it!
Tinkerbell Fairy Houses
Ingredients:
Graham Crackers (5 per house)
Sugar Cookie dough (storebought or your favorite recipe)
Life Saver Candies (I used two small bags for 6 houses)
Royal Icing
Green Food Coloring
Ziploc freezer bags (quart size, 1 per person)
Any candies you want to decorate the houses. Clean out the pantry!
Aluminum Foil
Wax Paper
Candy Melts, optional (I used pink ones just to add some extra color but it's not necessary)

Directions (for one house):
Cut the corners off three graham crackers to make a large triangle (see picture). Use the large triange and the two corners will be extra (crush them for a pie crust or something:)). Using royal icing, glue the triangles together to form a pyramid shape. This is the roof.

NOTE: You do not need any fancy decorating bags, just put the icing in a ziploc freezer bag, snip off one corner, and pipe out the frosting.
Cover with melted Candy melts if desired (I used pink but it's not necessary, the kids are going to put candy on it). Let dry on wax paper. For the base of the houses, lay 2 graham crackers side by side to form a square and glue together with royal icing. Let dry on wax paper (again, you can cover them with candy melts if you want)
Roll out sugar cookie dough into 1/4" thickness and cut out 3 large rectangles. Use a whole graham cracker as a size guide. Place on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil & sprayed with cooking spray and cut out any shapes you want to make "windows" (see video tutorial).

Put Life Saver candies in a large ziploc bag and crush them with a mallot or rolling pin. Using a small spoon, put crushed candies into the "windows" in your cookie rectangles. Bake at 375 for abuot 9 minutes until candies are melted and cookies are barely brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Take three rectangle cookies, place them on one of the smaller sides and glue together on one of the house bases.Pipe frosting on the top edge of your house and place a roof on top. Tint some icing green and have fun piping out vines and leaves on your house. Let dry (about an hour). Give your child a bag of icing (ziploc bag w/ a corner snipped off), some candies, and let them make this Tinkerbell House a "Home". Enjoy!

Sudsy Winner

I've had lots of people asking if they could post or share my recipes. Please, go ahead! I love that you're sharing them! Just make sure to link back to me. Enjoy your Monday, I'll have the Tinkerbell Houses up tonight!!

And now...The winner of the Sisters' Simple Soap is.....
paestar who said,
"The lavender soap looks TO DIE FOR!!! That is probably my favorite, followed closely by patchouli!". Email me your contact info and I'll pass it on to the Sisters'! Congrats!

Cute Salad Rings

The Tinkerbell House tutorial is coming, I promise! I'm just trying to type it all up.
In the meantime, need something fun and easy for the kids to do to help with Thanksgiving Dinner (or any nice dinner)? How about fancy salad rings? This is a super cute and fancy way to present individual salads on a plate. We made these for a dinner we had tonight.
After finishing them, I realized how "Christmas-y" they look--we'll be definitely be serving them at Holiday dinners!
Cute & Fancy Salad Rings
Ingredients:
Cherry Tomatoes (or grapes)
Dental Floss (unwaxed)
Large needle
Lettuce

Directions:
Make sure needle is clean by boiling it in water for a minute or two. Dry and thread a 12" piece of dental floss on it. I like to use large upholstery needles because they are easy for my children to handle and not especially sharp. Let your child thread 6 or 7 cherry tomatoes on a string.
Wrap around several pieces of lettuce and tie in a knot (see video tutorial). Trim any excess string. Viola! Fancy salad rings.

Funky Biscuit Flowers

I just saw that I'm the featured blogger of the day on The Secret is in the Sauce. I looooooove SITS, how cool is that??!!

We had a little Tinkerbell Movie Night yesterday and I needed a quick, girly snack, so here's what I came up with. These are easy, cheap, and sparkly...woo hoo!:)

How great would these look with red & green sugar garnishing a Holiday plate!? I'll definitely do them during Christmas.

Funky Biscuit Flowers
makes 10
Ingredients:
1 can refrigerator biscuits
colored sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Seperate biscuits and cut 5 triangular notches in each to resemble a flower (see quick video tutorial--excuse the messy kitchen, we were in full party mode!). Take two of the triangles you just cut out and roll into a ball.

Coat one side of the "flower" in colored sugar and place on greased baking sheet. Roll the ball in another color sugar and place on top of the flower. Repeat with remaining biscuits. Bake at 400 for 7-9 minutes and serve.

We also made edible Tinkerbell Houses, I'll post instructions tomorrow! Happy Friday!

What would you ask Wolfgang Puck?

I found out yesterday I get to be in on a conference call with the amazingly talented Wolfgang Puck on Nov. 20. He is seriously one of my favorite chefs....

THEN, I found out that I can only ask one question.

ONE QUESTION??! HOW ABOUT A MILLION?!!!!

So, I need your help. What one question would you ask Wolfgang Puck about Holiday entertaining and cooking? We have one shot to turn ourselves into chefs and entertainers extraordaire! Help me!

This is what I'm thinking so far, but I'm not really sure. I'd love to hear your input:
I love to entertain large groups of people, but I really like to serve elegant and well-presented food. It's often hard to make a special dish or garnish for a large group. What ideas do you have for elegant food for a crowd?

Chocolate Eggs & Bacon

I haven't made these in years and have forgotten how fun and easy they are. Yesterday, Tracy sent me an email with these adorable pretzel squares (yummy, cute, and easy...very cool!) and they reminded me of those eggs & bacon treats I really enjoyed making as a kid. So, of course we had to whip up a batch. My girls got all giggly when they put the M & M's on and realized they really do look like "eggs"! If you need a fun treat in under 5 minutes, this is a great go-to idea.

Bacon & Eggs
Ingredients:
Small pretzel sticks
White chocolate chips, candy melts, or white chocolate bark
Yellow M&M's
Wax Paper

Instructions:
Lay out a sheet of wax paper on countertop. Lay 2 pretzel sticks side by side on wax paper. Put a small blob (about a teaspoon) of melted white chocolate in center to hold pretzels together and form the "egg white". Place a yellow M&M in center of chocolate for yolk. Let harden at room temperature, then peel off and eat. You can store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

Tinkerbell's Minty Pea Pops

We used to be all about Pink, but now we're all about Tink and all things Green! So, I'm in the kitchen creating some Tinkerbell fun (I figured I could use her picture since I don't sell anything on here:)). You don't need any special tools, you can use any ice cube mold or a mini-muffin pan.
Don't be fooled by these little treats--they're made of peas! I was seriously skeptical, I must admit, but my kids ate them ALL in one sitting! They taste like mint chocolate chip ice cream! These Minty Pea Pops are from the Toddler Cafe, Jennifer is a genius at fun, tasty, and healthy food for kids. Who knew that peas could be so de-licious?!

I happen to have these fun star molds from Fred. (You can also grab star-shaped ice cube molds at the dollar store in the summertime). But, like I said above, you don't need a special ice cube tray, and regular one will do or you can use a mini-muffin tin.

Tinkerbell's Minty Pea Pops from The Toddler Cafe
Ingredients:
• 8 ounces low-fat cream cheese (not nonfat), at room temperature
• 1/2 cup frozen petite green peas, defrosted (preferably unsalted)
• 1/4 cup sugar (scant)
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate mini morsels
• wooden craft sticks or flexible straws
• Ice Cube tray or Mini-Muffin pan
• Ziploc Baggie

Directions:
Have ready 6 to 8 popsicle or wooden craft sticks or straws (I used straws cut into 3 pieces eacy) and a clean ice cube tray or mini muffin pan.
Combine the cream cheese, peas and sugar in a food processor or blender. Pulse/puree until smooth. Scrape down the sides as needed and add the peppermint extract; pulse or puree to mix well. Add the mini chocolate morsels by hand, stirring to combine. Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic food storage bag; cut off 1/2 inch from a bottom corner of the bag and squeeze the mixture into the wells of the ice cube tray or muffin pan. Insert a popsicle/wooden stick into the center of each. Freeze the tray/pan for at least 3 hours or until firm (it actually works best if you let them freeze overnight).
When the pops are frozen, remove them from the molds and freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.