Veggie Bars

A few months ago I went with Kristen to church, and the teacher of the class we went to brought these veggie bars. They are so darn good! I went home, googled, and made the first chance I got! 

Check these bad boys out! I mean... I had to make the picture extra large so you could see all the goodness on here, the best part is you can pretty much use whatever veggies you want to!

Here are the directions. It's a nice counter to a buffet full of sweets, and you can feel healthy eating all the veggies (even if you have to ignore the crescent rolls and the cream cheese).

2 (10 1/8 ounce) packages crescent shaped dinner rolls
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 (1 ounce) package original ranch dressing
black olives, chopped
sharp cheddar cheese
choose you favorite vegetables, such as carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, red onions, radishes, bell pepper, zucchini, etc

Directions:
1 Preheat the over 350°F Lay out the rolls on a jellyroll pan to make a crust. Bake in a preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes; cool.
2 Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch dressing.
3 Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crescent crust.
4 Chop the veggies into small pieces; press the black olives and your choice of veggies into the cream cheese mixture.
5 Top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
6 Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, cut into bars and serve.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetable-bars-56670#ixzz1aWt1y6nh

Let them eat Cake...

One day, we were eating dinner, and there was a knock on the door. I forced the kids to stay seated and I answered it. It was my neighbor and his then 6 year old son. With a little prompting from his dad, Zach said in one breath "Miss Emily, would you make my birthday cakes? I want one with Thomas and one with Lego Prince of Persia Sands of Time like this picture." Then he showed me a Prince of Persia Lego set instruction manual. This was long before his actual birthday (maybe a month in advance). The Thomas cake was for his family party and the Prince of Persia for his friend party.

Here's how the Thomas one came out-- it made me want to have a boy child who loved Thomas so I could make them this cake:

Tell me that's not adorable!

Also, it was my friend's daughter's birthday, so I made her cupcakes too... (I just like baking, ok?) And they turned out SUPER CUTE! I just used extra frosting from the Thomas cake, so there are some funky colors (like where the blue and red frostings were next to each other...) but how cute are these owls? 

I especially like the ones with the pretzel rod twig! It's sweet, chocolaty, salty, gummy, delicious and super easy! 

Green Chile Chicken Soup

With the cold weather on its way, I decided it was time for some yummy soup. I had researched a lot of recipes online, but none of them were exactly what I was wanting to eat. Plus they are portioned for, like, a restaurant. There are only two of us so here are the portions I used. I tend to not measure things with measuring cups or spoons so here is my best estimate at how to make this yummy soup.

1 cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded
1 can chicken broth
1 can (the tiny 3.5 oz can) diced green chiles
1 can (I think it was a 10 oz can) green chile enchilada sauce
1/2 can of water
1/2 of a lime's juice
1 can white beans (I used great northern beans)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin

dash of pepper and salt
*Sour cream, shredded cheese, and chips to garnish

Add all of it into a pot and heat thoroughly.

It is delish! As a side note, you can add cilantro to the soup, but the hubs and I do not like it so we chose to omit it. Similar recipes use rice, once again due to preference we used beans. From the peanut gallery (i.e. my husband) he recommended more chicken (he likes his soup chunky, like chili) and less lime (he doesn't like lime...) but I thought it turned out just great!

Harry Potter Pillows!

When I saw these pillow covers on pinterest I knew that I needed to make them for my sister Rachel!! There were no directions, so I made it up as I went. (Actually I did a lot of figuring and sketching, then I winged it!)

Over all I love how they turned out!  I'm not totally happy with how plain Hermione is. It seems she needs some thing more-- blush on cheeks maybe? I sent them to Rachel after a few months of them sitting on my bookshelf, and she posted the following picture :)