Life, Family, and Home - Simplified & Sweetened
Easter is just around the corner. Can you believe it? To get everyone in the spirit, today I’ve got some fun Easter bunny themed food ideas! These appetizers and desserts would be great for Easter parties or even a bunny themed baby shower! Hope you enjoy!
As one year draws to a close and another begins, I always like to look back on my posts for the year and share some of them with you. Today I’ve got 12 Favorite Recipes from 2012. Not surprisingly most of them are desserts! haha! Happy New Year to everyone! [Read more…]
POST UPDATE – If you came by to link up for Friday Favorites and didn’t see the linky, I apologize. I scheduled the post, and assumed it went off without a hitch. For some reason, the code I pasted in seemed to have disappeared. When I checked the post, there was only an opening and closing tag for the linky. Weird!! Anyway—should anyone come by and still like to link up, it should be here now! haha!
Hi Ladies! Welcome to Friday Favorites! Can you believe it’s only a few days till Christmas? Yay!
If you’re in need of any last minute holiday snack ideas, I’m sharing a sweet and easy treat, Cheesecake Puppy Chow, on Friday over at Amber’s blog, SaltTree. You can also find several recipes from guest bloggers as well as my own recipes here on my blog, and of course, check out all the yummy things being linked up at my Christmas Treats Party.
I’m excited to present another fun Christmas Treats guest post today! This one is from my sweet friend Kassi from Truly Lovely, and she is sharing a yummy holiday take on a campfire favorite: S’mores Bark! [Read more…]
Today we have another fun guest post! This one is from Keri at shaken together, and she’s made us a yummy treat: Hot Chocolate Floats. Take it away Keri!
Hi there, Simply Sweet Home friends! My name is Keri and I blog over at shaken together!!
It’s my home away from home where I share recipes, easy crafts/DIY projects, giveaways, a weekly link party and snippets of our life with 12 years of marriage and counting, two kids and two cats … you know, our life, shaken together! I would love to connect with you at my blog, on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest!
Today, I am so excited that Jerri invited me to share one of our family’s favorite holiday treats …
There is nothing better than a rich mug of hot chocolate on a cold night, right?! Well, unless it is topped with a scoop of ice cream, sprinkles and maybe a drizzle of hot fudge!
Whip up a batch of hot chocolate – you can use instant mix, I won’t judge – but there are tons of easy recipes for homemade hot chocolate that will probably rock your socks off 🙂 I am dying to try this hot chocolate mix from Something Swanky!
Anyway, gather your mugs and fill about 2/3 full with your hot chocolate. Add a scoop of ice cream (we used peppermint!) and sprinkle on your favorite toppings. I added a drizzle of warm hot fudge and festive holiday sprinkles!
This is seriously the best of both worlds … an ice cream sundae and a sweet steamy mug of hot chocolate!!
Jerri, thanks so much for the opportunity to share this sweet treat with your readers! Hope to see you all again soon! And happy, happy holidays!
Thanks again to Keri for posting here today!
I’m so excited to have some guest bloggers lined up for the holiday season. Today I’m happy to welcome Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. She’s sharing her Spice Cookies, a classic and perfect holiday treat, which I’m sure you’ll love. Here’s Kristen!
Hi Everyone! I am so pleased to be a guest here today. What fun it is to “meet” all of you! My name is Kristen and I blog over at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. (Yes, I don’t know what I was thinking when I chose that title…it’s too long, but it’s stuck to me like frosting on cake). My motto is “delicious doesn’t have to be expensive.” I make family friendly recipes using everyday ingredients.
By way of introduction, I am a mom to five kids ranging in age from 6 to 18. The oldest four are teenage boys, all of whom we adopted at birth. The youngest was a “surprise” little girl that I gave birth to myself. We live in the Jacksonville, FL area while my husband commutes to his job in San Fransisco two weeks out of every month. Life is rarely dull in my house. In fact, those blessed hours while the kids are in school are the only quiet ones of the whole day!
The recipe I am sharing with you today was given to me by a friend when we lived in the Seattle area. Susan and her husband were in a dinner group with us and we also shared a love of music, but what made her so special to me was her love for my young boys. She brought them these cookies whenever she visited and once even came over to my house with all of the ingredients and spent an afternoon baking with them. Those are priceless memories which make these cookies all the more tasty.
Spice Cookies:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each cloves, ginger and salt
Extra sugar
Combine the oil, sugar, molasses and egg in a mixing bowl.
Beat with a mixer until smooth.
Combine the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl and add to the sugar mixture.
Mix well.
Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Shape dough into small balls, roll in the extra sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until top starts to crinkle.
Cool on a wire rack.
Thanks, Jerri for inviting me over. It’s been a pleasure. Happy Holidays to all of you, too!!
Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving yet? Are you in charge of making a full meal for family and friends? Or do you just have to make a dish or two for the family potluck? Today I’m sharing twelve foods that will help you to make a complete Thanksgiving meal. I’ve got casseroles, side dishes, rolls, dessert, and of course, the turkey! [Read more…]
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nectresse™ Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
As someone with a family history of diabetes, I was very interested to learn about the newest sweetener out on the market. NECTRESSE™Sweetener is 100 percent natural and has zero calories per serving. And it comes to us from the maker of Splenda.
Unlike other artificial sweeteners, Nectresse tastes more like sugar. It’s also grainy like sugar and not powdery like other sugar substitutes and it is missing the aftertaste which often turns people away from other artificial sweeteners.
The secret of Nectresse’s taste and quality is that it is the only sweetener made 100% from fruit. It is actually made from the extract of Monk fruit.
Check out what journalist Lisa Ling has to say about this product:
I received a sample of Nectresse for review. I enjoyed its grainy texture which is very similar to sugar, and I found it to be a great substitute for sweetening cereal.
And I also decided to make some sweet tea. I think most people who have been diagnosed with diabetes or another disease that lends itself to dietary restrictions would say that it’s always harder to give up things that they drink every day as opposed to desserts or foods that you may eat only now and then. And here in the South, sweet tea is a must have, so it seemed like a good thing to make to test out Nectresse.
Sweet Tea Recipe:
1 Tea Bag (the large/double size)
2 Cups hot water
10 Packets Nectresse
Directions: Heat water on stove til it comes to a light boil. Steep tea bag in hot water for 2-3 minutes. Add 10 packets of Nectresse and stir.
*Keep in mind this ratio was just something I just tried out for a “small scale” to test the product. To make a half gallon of tea, I usually use 3 tea bags, so for a larger batch you might need to change the ratio.*
Now I have to say that this tea was really good. It was far better than unsweet tea, and it tasted very close to what we usually make with sugar and without the after taste that some artficial sweeteners leave. All in all, I think it is a great product, and I think anyone trying to diet or in need of a sugar substitute should try this product.
Check your local grocery store for this great new sweetener. It comes boxed if you like indvidual packets, or you can find it in a cannister . Also, visit Nectreese.com for a FREE sample of NECTRESSE™Sweetener.
This month I thought it would be fun to share some breakfast ideas for the back to school season. Pancake days were always special for me, so over the weekend I gathered together some pancake recipes that I’d thought you’d like. I’ve got everything from Lucky Charms and S’more Pancakes to Nutella Donut Pancakes! Hope you enjoy!
