Baby Burp Cloths

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

"Sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of." 

Recently the arrival of two precious baby girls prompted me to search for a something special that I could make for these new bundles of joy.  The internet provided me with so many ideas but I finally settled on burp cloths.  I had found at least 4 different types of burp cloths and finally decided to combine a couple of them. I chose to use cloth diapers as the "base", after all, they are designed to be absorbent.  While these really were not difficult to make they were time consuming.  I believe that if I were to make them again they probably would not take me quite as long as I would  have a little more experience.  

Here's what you'll need:

cloth diapers (I used the type that had the thicker panel down the center)

coordinating fabric

fusible web

ribbon (to tie them together for presentation)

To begin, cut fabric slightly larger that the thick center panel.  Tuck the raw edges under and press to keep the edges crisp.  Pin this, right side up, to the diaper and then sew down the fabric close to the outside edges.  Next embellish the cloths.  I used the baby's name and "burp".  You will need to trace the letters backwards on the fusible web.  Iron to the wrong side of the fabric and cut out.  Remove the backing from the letters and iron to the front of the burp cloth.  Now comes the hard part... I don't have an embroidery sewing machine so I set the machine to a zig zag stitch with a very small stitch length and stitch width and then went around the outside edges of the lettering.  That's it!!  The possibilities are endless.  

Confession... The stitching around the letters was more difficult than I anticipated and I made many mistakes.  When I look at these, all I see are the flaws and that makes it so I can't love them.  I know I'm probably much more critical than anyone else would be.  At least the mistakes help attest to the fact that it is, indeed, homemade... homemade with love!

Saltine Cracker Toffee

I wanted to bring in a sweet treat to work tomorrow for Valentine's Day, but I have to admit that this trial was more of a "mess" than a "success"!!  Oh, I know it "looks" good, but trust me, looks can be deceiving.  I burnt the sugar... perhaps I should have stayed off my work e-mail?!?  Anyway, lesson learned.  If I have time yet today I will try to make another batch to take into work, if not, at least I had good intentions and my family will get to pick through the pieces to find some that are at least edible!

This recipe was another one of those fun Pinterest finds!!  Check it out here.

You will need:

40 salted saltine crackers or enough to line your pan
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
(optional) 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Line saltine crackers in a single layer on the pan. 

In a small pot combine sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Once mixture is at a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes. Mixture should be a deep caramel color. Immediately pour over saltines and spread to cover crackers completely. (So far so good!)

Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. (This where things when horribly wrong for me... watch it carefully! As it turns out I probably should have taken it out of the oven after 3, maybe 4 minutes!!)  It will get all bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let sit a couple of minutes to melt. Sometimes I melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute then spread it on. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts if desired. Cool completely and break into pieces. 

                                                                

Good Luck... and remember to watch it carefully!!  :)

Pepperoni Pizza Dip

Tomorrow we are having a potluck at work and thought I'd bring this Pepperoni Pizza Dip.  I couldn't just make one for work I had to make one for home as well.  We got the recipe originally from Donna, found on lowcarbfriends.com.  See here.  It's been a family favorite ever since.

Ingredients: 8 ounces cream cheese 1/2 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon oregano 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/2 cup pizza sauce 1/2 cup pepperoni sausage -- chopped 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese How To Prepare: Heat cream cheese, sour cream, oregano, garlic powder and red pepper. Spread evenly in a 9-10 inch pie plate then spread pizza sauce over heated mixture. Sprinkle with pepperoni and onion. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes). Serve hot

When we make it, we usually will use either low fat or no fat cream cheese and sour cream... it will all depend on just how fat I feel at the moment.  This way I can almost convince myself that it's healthy... but wait, we also tend to use much more mozzarella, up to 2 cups... Okay so maybe it's not that healthy, but boy is it good!!   :)

Here we have the cream cheese mixture spread in the baking dishes (remember I doubled the recipe so I could make 2).  Next is the onion and pepperoni chopped and ready to add to the dish.

Here you see the sauce, onions and pepperoni added to the dish.  Once it's baked for 10 minutes or until slightly bubbly and heated through we add the mozzarella and continue baking until the cheese is completely melted.

We like to serve this dip with Ritz crackers.  Other great dippers would be tortilla chips, pita wedges or even cocktail breads.  

Enjoy!

Egg McCorby

Well, I can't take any credit for this morning's breakfast.  We have Kristen to thank for the Egg McMuffins that she didn't purchase from McDonald's but created herself in the kitchen.  Let me tell you, they were delish and oh so easy, so I'm told!!  I'm loving that Kristen has a renewed interest in the kitchen... it could be the apron with ruffles and pearls that she got for Christmas, or it could be Pinterest, either way I think it's great!  :)

The inspiration for this mornings undertaking can be found here.

You'll need:

English Muffins
Large eggs
Cheese (about 10 ounces for 12 sandwiches.)
Butter, or olive oil (optional)


Grab a muffin tin and and very lightly oil each spot in the tin with either butter or spray oil.  Next,  crack an egg in each muffin area!  Stick these in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
Take half of a muffin, add some cheese, add an egg, and apply the top half of the muffin.  Here Kristen improvised and had cooked up some sausage patties to add to the sandwich.  You could add any meat that you want (bacon, ham, canadian bacon) or leave it meatless as the author does.

Thanks, Kristen!  Can't wait to see what's cookin' next!