Easy Flamingo Cupcakes!

Gotta flamingo lover? Check out these super Easy Flamingo Cupcakes. This is NOT a sponsored post, I am just eternally grateful for Mr. Pillsbury who made my day extremely easy. He provided my strawberry cake mix and pre made hot pink frosting which magically came with sprinkles on top!! Bless you little white dough man! 

Our daughter is OBSESSED with flamingos right now. Flamingo bedroom, flamingo stuffed animals, pictures, jewelry, clothes, you name it, if it has a flamingo on it, she is in heaven! We try our absolute hardest to keep her flamingo loving on the classy side. We are walking a fine line here people.

Our darling third grader asked for flamingo cupcakes for her class treat. So guess what I did, looked on Pinterest. And... honestly, not much to go by. So... TA DA! This is my very own creation. Simple, cute and fun! Enjoy! 

Step 1.

Make cupcakes according to package directions.

Let the baked cupcakes cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

Step 2.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make your white chocolate head and necks. 

Take 1 package of white chocolate chips and microwave them in a microwave safe bowl for 20 second increments. Stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula in between each increment until the chocolate is totally melted. Add in about 10 drops of pink food coloring. (I buy the NEON colors, they are much brighter) Mix together and place in a piping bag, or zip bag with one corner tip cut. 

Put down a silicone sheet or a piece of wax paper or parchment paper.

Like the picture below.

You make an elongated #2 shape then retrace that shape with the melted chocolate, and finish at the "head." that way, you have a beak underneath and a "defined" head on top. 

I made a lot of bad ones, but got into a flow and soon they all turned out very nicely. Don't make the necks too thin, they will break easily.

Let the chocolate set for about 20 minutes before you stick them into the cupcake.

Step 3.

Frost and sprinkle your cupcakes and add your flamingo head/neck! 

Super Mom "Kids Fill in the Blank" Paper

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TOMORROW! 

I LOVE when I get papers where my kids fill in the blanks! I especially love getting those for Mother's Day! I am blessed to be able to sub in a Primary class in church tomorrow, on Mother's Day! So, I made a "SUPER AWESOME" fill in the blank thankful page.

We are learning about the ten lepers that Jesus healed and how only one came back to thank him.

We will be talking about how thankful we are for Jesus and our moms. 

Let's be honest. Its takes some sweet super powers to do what we do. And it will be fun to see what our kids say about us!

Use this for mother's day or a little pick me up on a rainy day. Give it to your kids and have them fill it in by themselves, or have dad help them. 

Save the picture I made and print it out at your convenience. 

Rainbow Quinoa Salad

HELLO WORLD! Have you ever had Quinoa Salad? IT IS DIVINE!!! Light, filling and scrumptious! I took my classic Quinoa Salad/Salsa and made a spin off of it by adding a few more ingredients to make it bright and even more flavorful. I can't wait to make this all summer long! Give it a whirl!

Rainbow Quinoa Salad

1 1/2 c. Quinoa (Rinsed with a strainer under warm water then transferred to a medium pot.)

3 c. Water/ Chicken Broth

Bring quinoa and water/chicken broth to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 17-20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Let cool to room temperature, or put in the fridge to cool.

Place cooled quinoa in a medium/large bowl.

Add:

3 diced fresh Tomatoes (We love Roma Tomatoes - they have a little bit more "meat")

1/3 bunch of Cilantro - finely chopped (We use the "top half" of the cilantro (leaves and small stems))

3 T. Chopped Red Pepper

3 T. Chopped Orange Pepper

3 T. Chopped Yellow Pepper

2-3 T. Lime Juice - (Bottled or Fresh)

1/3 c. Olive Oil

1 tsp. Salt  (salt to taste)

Add Diced Avocado into INDIVIDUAL BOWLS - If you put the avocado in the salad and have leftovers, the avocado will brown in the salad is it will look yucky! So keep the avocado separate.

I also added a can of rinsed garbanzo beans into our salad to make it a little more hearty.

You can also add chopped onion to give it even more flavor! 

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Serve plain with your favorite tortilla chips, serve over grilled chicken, just make it your own! 

You're Sweeter than a Sundae! Valentine's Gift Idea

Need a cute easy Valentine's gift for a friend, co-worker, teacher, or neighbor? Check out these SUPER CUTE, SUPER EASY, Candy Sundae's I whipped together! Almost everything came from the dollar store and came together in 15 minutes! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Supplies:

Clear Plastic Cups

Assorted Candy

Jumbo Cotton Balls

Hot Glue

Scrapbook Paper Hearts (or you can use small red pom poms)

Metal or Plastic Spoons

As the picture shows above, hot glue 5 cotton balls into a flower shape, then glue one in the center.

After it dries, fluff the cotton balls. 

Fill the cups with your candy.

Secure the cotton top on by placing 2 or 3 glue hot glue drops on the rim of the cup. 

Finish off by gluing a red heart or pom pom on top of the cotton, and slide in the spoon! 

PRESTO!

Corn Cake

Tired of dry corn bread? How about making the easiest thing ever, Corn Cake! My mother in law introduced this simple amazing "fake corn bread" to me years ago. I have been tweaking the recipe over the years to get it just right, and now it's PERFECT!

My husband and son went to a "father and son's" chili and corn bread cook off. I made this Corn Cake because I was low on time after making my Creamy Chicken Chili. It turned out great! Our four year old son took the credit for winning both events! So, I can now say that my Creamy Chicken Chili and Corn Cake are AWARD WINNING RECIPES!! Ha ha. 

This recipe is so simple. A yellow cake mix, corn meal and a couple more ingredients make this "fake corn bread" delicious and moist! Enjoy!

Corn Cake

1 Yellow Cake Mix

1 c. Yellow Corn Meal

4 eggs

1/2 c. Oil

1 c. Water

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl until smooth.

Place in a greased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350' for 23-27 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*You can add butter or honey if you would like. It almost doesn't need it because it's already very sweet (because it's a cake), but you can dress it whatever way your heart desires! DELISH!

The victor returns!

Gift Exchange Gift Idea

Need a quick gift exchange idea? 

This is always a fun one!

Everyone loves slippers, adults and children! Crazy slippers like these monster feet, cartoon slippers, fuzzy warm slippers, animal slippers, or plain suede slippers. Whatever you want! 

Find some fun slippers, slip a few candy bars inside and VOILA, it's done! One down, 10 more to go! 

Happy Gift Exchanging!

Disneyland Coupon Books

Okay people, seriously I had a stroke of BRILLIANCE! I'm not one to boast, but this RARELY happens!

Maybe someone else has come up with this idea, but I haven't heard of it, so in my mind, I STARTED IT!!! WHOO HOO!

Let's get real. Disneyland is pricey to say the LEAST! We have been planning and saving for our Disney trip for over 8 months now. Money isn't too tight, but come on, if anyone wants to retire before the age of 80, money should always be tight. 

Anyway, we have been planning and using this Disneyland trip as an incentive for school, chores, tattle tailing, homework etc.

(oh no, what am I going to do when we don't have this trip to hold over my kids heads and make them behave.................. um.......... I'll cross that bridge after the trip.)

The kids have also been saving up their money and putting it into our "Disneyland Jar." All and any spare cash or coins go into that jar. It has honestly been the BEST THING EVER!! As a parent, you try to teach your kids that they need to EARN things, not always expect a handout. Well, my husband and I decided to tell them they need to earn their ticket into Disneyland. The kids have LOVED having a goal to put their money towards. This is definitely a family earned trip! 

As Christmas quickly approaches, (I had a minor heart attack the other day when someone posted on Facebook that it was 66 days away and I have NOTHING READY YET!) I decided to get my butt in gear and start on some projects that I wanted to make for Christmas. This is one of them.

Like I said before, Disneyland is EEXXXPPPEEENNNSSIIVVEEEE!!!! On top of it we are going to Disneyland a few weeks after Christmas. So, with presents in mind, I decided to make a few of the kids' Christmas presents, DISNEYLAND PRESENTS! That way, I don't have to take out a second mortgage on our house for one dang trip! (just kidding, but for real though)

I came up with.. drum roll please.............

DISNEYLAND COUPON BOOKS!

I will wrap up 1-2 coupons in a box and the kids will open them up for Christmas! GENIUS!

They will then have a little coupon book of Disneyland delicacies. 

A churro, a toy under $20 of their choosing, a sticker for their trunk (Yes we collect stickers and put it on our dress up box/trunk), a drink, a dole whip, and more. 

This is a fun gift for kids even if it's not for Christmas!

 They could do chores to earn a coupon around the house before your trip? Good grades for coupons? Read "this many" books for a coupon?? I'm just rambling and spouting out options.

Anyway, make it, take it and LOVE IT!

On a blank document on my GoogleDocs I 'inserted a table.' (4 down and 3 across)

I added the images into each box and simply printed them out on a piece of card stock paper.

I tried to save you a little time by putting the images I saved toward the end of this post! 

You can use them or find your own. 

I printed, cut them out, and I punched holes into the same corner of each picture. I stuck a ring through them all and... PRESTO! Quick and easy coupon book!

Here are a few of the images I saved for the coupon book so you don't have to go around searching for them. Just trying to save you time. Your coupon book can be as big or as small as you want it! These are just the things I remember getting or wanting in the park, you probably have different traditions or memories than we do. That's the fun thing about this, make it unique to your family! Enjoy!

I found this image on Google but, click here to see the blog where this pic comes from

I found all of these pictures on Google Images. 

Enjoy your coupon book!