Happy birthday, Katie!

Happy birthday to another of our very own, Katie!! She's one of the most creative, caring & funny gals to be friends with. Happy birthday, Katie!

Source: weheartit.com via Tessa on Pinterest

St. Patty's Day, Shamrocks, and Luck

We have a few FREE activities for St. Patty's Day that we would like to share with all of you lucky folk who have stumbled upon us!

For the kids, we have a bit of a challenge with a word search and some coloring pages, designed by yours truly. You can have the kids color while some lovely bagpipe music plays in the background... doesn't that sound glorious?! :)  Click below on what your heart desires.

I bundled these up in groups of 2 pages per link, just click and enjoy:

-WORD SEARCH and Celtic Cross (coloring page)
-SHAMROCK (coloring page) and LEPRECHAUN with POT OF GOLD (coloring page)
-POT Of GOLD (coloring page) and Leprechaun (coloring page)
-DIY SHAMROCK PIN (in case you forget to wear something green)

 

And for the Grown-ups out there, we have put together free cupcake toppers to adorn your party cupcakes!  OR breakfast muffins, in my case.

Click here for the free template---> CUPCAKE TOPPERS 

Also, I found an online Irish dictionary that translates into Gaelic which is very interesting HERE if you are in to that sort of thing.  Or how about some IRISH SLANG... This is even more fun and it's in english.  Try slipping some of the slang into your words with your friends on St. Patrick's Day.

Don't forget to wear green and have a lucky, fun Awesome DAY!

P-Dub & Apple Dumplings

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Have you heard of the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond? I guess a better question is, who hasn't heard of her? The Pioneer Woman is an amazing food blogger who partially inspired the creation of the Sasquatch Willow blog. She's like the Wonder Woman blogger of the Midwest

It's no surprise that when we found out she was having a book signing not so far away, (a bit of an understatement there, it was a four hour drive) we knew we had to go!

So, we began our pilgrimage. We managed to avoid a traffic jam. Saw a dead horse. Cried about the dead horse. Became turned around in the Ohio State medical area. Saw a giant coffee cup. Stopped at Tim Horton's. And watched a kid devour a cupcake. 

Finally, we met the Pioneer Woman aka P-Dub. 

Let's not look at this like a bad photo. Let's look at it as an artistic expression of P-Dub's Wonder Woman-ness.

After the books were signed and small pleasantries exchanged, we headed off to dinner at a place called The Old Mohawk. 

What did I learn through all of this? 

1. The Pioneer Woman aka P-Dub aka Ree Drummond is even nicer in person than she seems on her blog.
2. I'm not very good at the book signing small talk thing. I should probably work on that.
3. Food places with crazy names are always the best (Stop by The Old Mohawk if you happen to be in the German Village area of Columbus, Ohio.)

This wouldn't be a proper blog post without a recipe of some sort, so I decided to test out P-Dub's recipe for Apple Dumplings. These really couldn't be any easier unless someone else made them for you.

Easy Peasy Apple Dumplings

Yields: 24 Dumplings 

Ingredients:

3 Granny Smith Apples

3 cans of crescent roll dough

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (salted)

1 cup of granulated sugar

2/3 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon + 3 tablespoons of cinnamon 

1 - 20 ounce bottle of Mountain Dew (not diet)

Prep:

Preheat your oven to 350*F. Grease a large pan for the dumplings. Peel and core your apples, cutting each of them into 8 slices. Unroll your crescent dough and separate the "triangles". 

Roll up an apple slice in triangle of dough and place into your pan. Make sure to avoid crowding the dumplings in the pan, otherwise they won't be able to expand while baking. 

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and one teaspoon of cinnamon. Give it a couple of stirs but don't worry about the lumps. Pour mixture over each of the dumplings and into your pan. 

Pour Mountain Dew around the perimeter of the pan until it's about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the pan. I only used about 3/4 (15 ounces) of the bottle. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon over the top of the dumplings and put your pan in the oven. Bake dumplings for 30-45 minutes, until they are light brown and crispy on the top.

Tips:

I made a lot of dumplings with this recipe, but you can change it to your liking. Just remember that one apple + one can of crescent rolls equals 8 dumplings. Adjust down the rest of the recipe accordingly.

Also, for lactose tolerant folks out there, serve it with vanilla ice cream. It's ahhhhmazing.

Recipe adapted from the Pioneer Woman.

Mardi-Gras Masked Fun! (FREE Templates!)

Mardi-Gras is a time for Celebration! Let's start the party!!

For this party, you need a mask.  Any mask will do, and you can buy one already made at any costume store or make one yourself.  There are plastic plain masks available at your local craft store to decorate -OR- you can make one out of cardstock, thin cardboard, or plain paper.

It also depends on how elaborate you want your mask to be. Cardstock or cardboard are better to handle heaver items like feathers, beads, and anything else you may be gluing. However, if you are just having fun and don't want to spend a lot of money you can choose to opt for regular paper and decorate with stickers, crayons, markers, etc. As for colors, you can decorate however you wish, but tradition uses Purple (Justice), Gold (Power), and Green (Faith).

Materials needed:

• Cardstock or Paper printable
• Newspaper or some sort of sheet for easy clean up
• Construction Paper
• Scissors (or x-acto knife)
• Glue or scotch tape
• Glitter or Glitter Glue
• Feathers/Cotton Balls/Craft Pom-Poms
• Stickers
• Pencil/Pipe Cleaners/ Popsicle stick (for the handle)
• Markers/Crayons

I will be making a mask for myself and for my dog Sadie!

I originally wanted to just make a fun sparkly one with feathers and glitter but I seem to have lost my feather stash.  So, if you have feathers feel free to use them. For my mask, I made a simple mask. I cut out the SIMPLE mask template and cut out some random shapes from my construction paper collection to dazzle up my mask. Each piece has some glitter on it.  (NOW as a word of warning, lay out some newspaper or a plastic/paper sheet if you use glitter to make clean up easier). I cut slits in the top to make a feather like appearance out of my paper.

Once you have your mask done, you need a handle. A stick or pencil can be attached to side of the mask by gluing or taping it.  If you are coloring the mask, it will not be as heavy as one with a lot of glue on it and you could use a pipe cleaner as the handle.

For Sadie,  I will be making the Cat mask.  I printed it off on a lavender colored cardstock. This one was colored with markers and jewel stickers applied to it.

It's tough being a model... :)

Free printables are available below as a template for your mask. Click below for the template of your choice.

• SIMPLE Mask
• Mardi-Gras Mask 1
• Mardi-Gras Mask 2
• Joker Mask
• Cat Mask
• Coloring Page Masks

Once you have your mask created, dress up in costume and accessorize with beaded necklaces or feathery boas! 

Recipe review: Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Recently I came across this recipe from Picky-plate for cinnamon roll cookies and I really wanted to try them. 


I did. Make them. They are so tasty. And like she says, surprisingly better cold. I don't know why but the cold does something that makes me want eat them all. These are chewy, just the right amount of sweet, buttery and fantastic. 

   I didn't take pictures of my cookies, so here is one from her blog 

just so you know what you are getting yourself into.  

  

The recipe straight for her lips blog:


"Cookie:

2 Cups sugar
1 Cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup sour cream
6 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1 1/2 softened butter
1 1/2 Cups packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

*You can find the recipe for frosting on her site, I bought a tub of cream cheese frosting because I was being lazy but I didn't frost most of the cookies, I actually liked them better without the frosting.* 

Cream the sugar and butter. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream until combined. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour one cup at a time until well combined.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, cut each disc into thirds and roll into a 1/8 inch thick oval. Spread each rolled pieces of dough with 2 Tablespoons softened butter, 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. *I took the filling ingredients and mixed them all together like a spread. But do however you wish. I like being different.*

Start rolling from the long end closest to you, rolling into a log shape.  Using a sharp knife, cut 1/2 inch pieces of dough.  Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet."

Seriously of you don't make themse I just might disown you. Check out her website. I just saw her recipe for walking tacos (the one good thing about middle school) and I want. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a great day whether you are single or have someone special to celebrate with.

Go out with friends, or out to dinner with the one/s you love. Print some valentine days cards out if you don't have time to get to the store or if you forgot!

Enjoy your day! Celebrate all the love you have in your life, be it a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, friends, parents, or kids.

If all else fails and you get ditched, dumped, or simply don't have a valentine, go to the store and buy some candy, it's on sale by now. 

And remember, Sasquatch loves you!

Chocolate covered everything

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and if you are still stumped on what to do for whoever it is that you want to do something for just cover something in chocolate and tada! All done.

What you may need:

• Strawberries, Graham crackers, marshmallows, heart shaped strawberry favored peeps, or her/his favorite cookies
• Chocolate
• and possibly sprinkles

How simple is that?

First you need to melt the chocolate. You can do this one of three ways:

1. Microwave, place chocolate in bowl and microwave for about 20 -30 second increments stirring in between. Watch the chocolate carefully and do not burn b/c thats no way to show someone you like/love them. Unless you are being mean and want them to eat burnt chocolate. If meanness is the case, exit this web page, turn off the computer and go get a hobby. Anyway, I usually only microwave when I have a small batch of chocolate to melt, it takes to long to get it all melted for me. 

2. Double boiler. Place a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil, place a bowl or another pan over the water but make sure it is not touching the water and turn down the heat to low. Add chocolate and stir as it begins to melt. I don't really like this method because I find it hard to keep the temperature consistent and my chocolate always separates or starts to gets hard fast (insert inappropriate "that's what she said" joke here). 

3. A crock pot. Just plug in the crock pot, and add the chocolate and stir as it begins to melt. I have a mini crock pot that I bought just for melting chocolate.  It keeps an even temp and it super easy. I love it.

Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment. I had to use aluminum foil because it was all I had, so use that if you want instead.  Melt your chocolate. Grab what ever it is that you are going to be dipping and dip it. Very gently shake to remove excess chocolate and lay on the cookie sheet to cool and harden. 

If you want to add sprinkles do so now while the chocolate is still wet. If you want to add some fancy white chocolate squiggles (is that the right term? squiggles?) just melt some white chocolate, dip a fork in it and wildly fling it over what ever you want. Preferably the food you just dipped and not children, animals or walls. 

Once they are harden you can arrange thing in a pretty bowl like the one below. Or you could get some mini cupcake liners and arrange then beautifully on a plate and you date/lover/friend/whatever will be swoon and be mighty impressed.

See how pretty in the bowl? Please also note the blue arrow in the in upper left corner and the sleeping dog. This has nothing to do with anything but I thought you should see.