Summa-Random, Summa-Greatness

Summer is full of long nights, days spent being lazy (not hardly actually), lots of playing and so much more. In a word: Randomness.

So I share with you, some randomness over the last few months. Part 1, anyway.

Have you found a Girl Scouts Coffee Creamer? You need to!

Decided it was time, and chopped my  hair off. New change

I donated my hair to help children in need of hair for wigs.

The sunrises + clouds are so beautiful this time of year.

Even without clouds, still a pretty way to start the day.

Playtime is serious business over here! So is his cuteness :)

Drool. S'mores bars.

Chobani Champions yogurt for breakfast

Pool time playing outside.

Where did November go?

Gosh, it is nearly the end of November. December is right around the corner and the year is almost over. How can this be?

I haven't been too great at posting lately. I'm so irregular when it comes to posting. Here's a little Pinterest love and recipe that worked BEAUTIFULLY! Thought I'd share. I'll post some more later, after the house is clean. Wait, that chore will never be done. So I'll just post soon, promise ok?

Thin Mint Cookies (Think Girl Scouts, only cheaper)

Got this recipe from Pinterest.

Source: loveveggiesandyoga.com via Char on Pinterest

It worked great!

Ingredients:
1 roll/sleeve of Ritz Crackers
1 tablespoon Shortening
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon mint extract flavoring **Measure carefully. A little too much and you have cough syrup tasting, YUCK!

Melt chocolate and shortening. Shortening helps chocolate stay smooth and not get hard when melting. Once melted add in mint flavoring. Measure careful!! Dip crackers into chocolate and set aside to dry/cool. If you have enough room in your freezer I would suggest setting cookies on a plate to cool quickly in there. If you live in warm climates (Hello, I live in 115 degree desert Arizona!) I would NOT suggest doing this in the middle of July. The freezer helps.

I promise, these don't taste like Ritz crackers. Chocolate helps!

Hope this makes your weekend better!

Easy Easter Treat

{Mouth watering? Good.} Image here

I've come across a great recipe I must try. Sounds pretty simple and I know a guy who loves these Cadbury Easter Egg Treats. While these are packed with sugar, who can't stand to have a little treat every now and then.

Homemade Cadbury Eggs (from Totsy)

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 ounces of milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of corn syrup
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• yellow food coloring
• egg molds

Directions: 

1. First mix together the corn syrup, butter and vanilla. Then add the powdered sugar. Separate mixture into two bowls (about 1/3 of mixture should be in second bowl). Add yellow food coloring to one (yolk). Put in fridge. 
2. Make little yolk balls and then put back in fridge or freezer to harden.
3. Take a small amount of white filling out and flatten it into a circle. Wrap the white around the yolk ball and then stick them back in the fridge.
4. Melt chocolate and fill molds. Place a ball in the center & join the halves. Pop in the freezer so they get hard. 

How cute do these look and how simple does this sound? I hope it is as simple as it says, because I want to try these!

What are some of your Easter treats? Must haves? Any cute ideas for things to make?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I'm linking up with {Hanna over at Bouffe e Bambini} and her Handmade Hog, such a cutie!

Maple Chocolate Chip Bars

I know it's been a while since I've posted any cooking or food. When you're 9 months pregnant and it's 112+ degrees outside, the creativity to come up with something to cook isn't always there. A lot of what I've made lately has been regular stuff and has been last minute. However, tonight after I got home from work I wanted cookies...after dinner of course :) I made a little twist to the recipe and actually made bars instead of cookies. Who says you can't have dessert first?!

Also, I'm linking up with my good friend and fellow blogger {bouffe e bambini} for her linky party the handmade hog. She hosts this almost weekly, if not more often, and I've been wanting to link up for a while!

Enjoy!

Maple Chocolate Chip Bars
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups flour
12 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer (this is the method I used) cream together sugars and shortening. Next, add eggs, vanilla and maple extracts. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer. The batter will be pretty sticky. Mine stuck to the mixer paddle. Add in chocolate chips.

From here, you could make cookies on a cookie sheet if you prefer. I thought bars sounded better. I spread the batter into a 9x13 ( i think that is the size?!) casserole pan/enchilada pan/cake pan. Get the idea? Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, check after 10-12 minutes to make sure not to burn, after all every oven is different.

Man oh man were these good! I bet they would be good with some ice cream on top too :)