Chocolate Coconut Pudding Pie Shots: Homemade with a Kick!

Chocolate Coconut Pudding Pie Shots: Homemade with a Kick!

Yummy for summer time cook-outs, camping, or the family get together BUT this version is for the grown-ups only:)

The above I made in handy dandy single serving "shot" portions.... however, I thought I'd whip up a "share" portion as well, and instead of using the oh so convenient plastic cups, I got fancy with small glass custard cups! As shown below....

Super yummy and easy peasy!

 I started with a simple (but sweet) graham cracker crust.
Combine:
- one stick of butter melted
- one sleeve of crushed graham crackers
- 1/4 cup of sugar in the raw
Layer the bottom of each cup with the crust.

The "pie filling" is as follows:
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup coconut vodka, I like Pinnacle
- 1/2 cup Baileys Irish Cream

- about 5oz/3/4 container Cool Whip

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with mixer until well combined.

Pour over graham cracker crust and freeze for at least a couple of hours. Top with whip cream and serve!

In my head I have a million other "pie shot" ideas! I'll share as I explore!

Make your own Sugar Scrub!!!!

Easy peasy, DIY sugar body scrub!
Honestly it does not get any easier than this and it's inexpensive to boot.

Two easy to find ingredients and a cute little jar, clearly I'm partial to and have a bunch of mason jars, and your ready to scrub.

Ingredients:
-Sugar In the Raw
-Palmers Moisturizing Body Oil
*Combine in a small mason jar, mix, and enjoy!

I keep this in the bath and use it 2-3 times a week. It gets rid of dead skin and particles and leaves my skin soft.

The Giving Tree....

One of our most favorite things to do is to hike with the furry one. We are lucky enough to have a beautiful apple orchard near our home with trails that circle two reservoirs. A gorgeous hike.

This past weekend with the lovely weather we've had, we were able to hike several times. It's that time of year at the orchard when the volunteers collect fallen branches to discard and there were many on the ground. Knowing we'd be having a campfire and we always make s'mores we decided to collect fallen branches to use as roasting sticks..... they were perfect! Nice and straight and easy to clean, and it reminded me of one of my favorite childhood stories The Giving Tree. The kids got a little tickle out of that as well.

 

We all really enjoyed the campfire and delicious s'mores!

Oh the Things I Put in my LunchBots.....

I try my best to be as Eco-friendly as possible. The boy and the littles are wonderful at cleaning and separating recyclables, and we use reusable snack and sandwich bags when packing lunches. A couple of years ago I purchased a stainless steel container at a Whole Foods Market for packing salad lunches. I was hooked and went on the hunt for more.



I did not find the same as previously purchased but I did find LunchBots. A company committed to making food safe, Eco-friendly containers. Made from stainless steel their containers are durable and come in array of sizes and colors. The rectangles are great for snacks or sandwiches but my favorite are the rounds, perfect for fruit, salsa, or salad. A few of my favorites! Easy to carry and clean the best containers for your lunch.

So go, be green and share what you fill your LunchBots with!

Feed Me Friday!

So excited to be featured in this week's Feed Me Friday Link-up!!!
I'm fairly new to the blogging world and already completely hooked. It's wonderful to share my ideas and thoughts and be inspired by so many of yours.
Thanks for the opportunity! I look forward to visiting each of you....






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Welcome to Feed Me Friday Blog Hop, hosted by Oh So Savvy Mom, Nap Time is My Time, Great Contradictions and Just Us Four!




Feed Me Friday is a Blog Hop to help you meet new bloggers and build your e-mail subscription. Want to be a part of Feed Me Friday? Just follow these simple rules:

- Add your blog link to the linky

- Subscribe by email and follow via Google+ the four hostesses (Oh So Savvy Mom, Nap Time is My Time, Great Contradictions and Just Us Four) and the Featured Blog of the Week. Make sure to leave us a comment and we will return the favor. Visit as many blogs on the list as you can. If you like the blog subscribe to their email (feel free to follow on Google+ too, if you want)

- Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Feed Me Friday. Be sure to confirm your subscription! Subscribing back is not mandatory, but it is recommended. It is a great way to build blogging relationships.

Since this is an email subscription blog hop, your blog must have a place for people to subscribe to your email. If there isn’t an email subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky without warning.



Every Friday we will put up a new Feed Me Friday linky, so be sure to stop by and add your blog. Each week we will choose one participant from the previous week’s blog hop to be the Featured Blog of the Week.



This week's featured blogger is:










A Mom and Her Littles is a blog about camping, crafting, hiking, feeding, homework, work work, and everything in between!




Thanks so much for linking up with this this week. If you're a new participant, please be sure to leave a comment below!

My Own Little Pintimate Party....

I love Pinterest! Like so many of you I'm sure, I spend more time than I care to admit perusing and pinning recipes, projects, and places to visit. All with the intention of referencing and doing them all myself! I even do on occasion.

I also happen upon some of the most fabulous blogs. Pinterest is the best marketing tool. So in the midst of reaffirming my healthy lifestyle, I'd fallen off the wagon a bit, I pinned a super little recipe, from the cutest little blog, for yummy looking Trail Mix Balls. Jenna writes Eat Live Run and i think it's lovely.

Quinoa, oats, cherries, seeds, honey, peanut butter, and chocolate all ingredients for this handy, healthy, on the go little snack. You can make them too: Trail Mix Balls - Recipe

The best part is how it smells once you add the honey mixture!

So excited for my morning hike tomorrow!!

QR Codes and All That Jazz...

In the age of smartphones, tablets, iPads, and all things electronic keeping up with the bazillion ways to market can be overwhelming to say the least. I mean if you don't blog (gasp), Facebook, Tweet, and Pin, you're just not doing it right!

Sitting outside the local pizza shop the other day, I noticed in the window of the salon next door, a large colorful add with an attached QR Code. So I held up my handy dandy iPad, scanned the code (from the comfort of my car), and easy peasy I was looking at the salon's daily specials on their website within a matter of seconds. Like magic and in my opinion genius!

So, that set me off to find my own QR Code. Guess what, there are lots of sites that generate this little black and white box for FREE! Yay! Not only did I find the generator but plenty of ideas as to whereto put the QR Code. Hats, T-shirts, bags, coffee mugs, even chocolate as an add medium. 

Blogs, Etsy shops, YouTube, Facebook, plain text, and phone numbers are just a few of the electronic imprints you can attach to a QR code. The possibilities are endless!

This is the site I used to generate a code: http://www.qrstuff.com/ but as I said a google search produced many. So go code away and market prosperously!!!

Super Sculpey DIY Little Jewelry Dishes....

A sweet, simple gift any little (with a bit of help) can make up in an afternoon!

Perfect for a teacher, mother, friend, or anyone who appreciates cute. Super easy peasey, inexpensive, and quick!

The whole project costs about $20 and that produced six small dishes. I got all the above supplies at Michaels. Don't forget your 40% off coupon!

Each was made from one 2 oz package of Sculpey III. The Little Lady and I rolled and shaped the dishes to the dimensions we wanted. For the round ones I used a curved bottom glass just to shape. After we were pleased with the shape we gently stamped our design. I used my jewelry letter stamps for the personalization, but you can purchase letter stamps specifically for clay if you like.
Place your prepared forms on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake according to package directions. Mine were baked for 30 minutes at 275*.

Use a glaze to give your little project a finished look! I used Sculpey's gloss and love the way they turned out!

Happy crafting!!!

Our Bunny Always Leads With Riddles.....

and yours can too!

When my sister and I were children Easter was always a favorite for us. Not because of the baskets, though we did enjoy our Easter bounty, but because we loved the chase. You see in our house the bunny made it a bit more challenging to retrieve our baskets than by just following a trail of jelly beans. In our house the bunny would leave a riddle, which lead to another riddle, and another, and so on. We had a VERY clever bunny.

 




There was little we enjoyed more Easter morning than reading and solving the riddles written especially for us. So much so that even once the bunny mystery had been shared, by special request, we continued many years to wake up Easter morning to find our special riddles waiting....

To inspire your creativity I'm sharing some of the riddles my sister and I, with the writing skills and wit of papa, have used over the years for our children:

Solving this first clue won’t take a Mage, but you might have to look around the “cage”!

Good Luck!

“E.B”.

 2) Congratulations Boys, You solved your first riddle!

But if your going to win, you had better not fiddle!!

Here we go!

If you are going to find your Easter treat you must look in the home that holds your “feet”!

“E.B.”

 3) Good job Boys, you are half way there! EB is pleased that you are on a tear! Here is your next

clue…..

Some forests are green, and others are lush, but to find this clue, you must think about “flush”,

“E.B.”

 4) Good Job boys, your hot on the trail! So the Easter Bunny better move his tail! Get ready for

your next clue….

Some creatures run, and some others may swish, but when sharks are hungry they think about “fish”!

“E.B.”

 5) Hot stuff Boys this is really going well, when it comes to solving riddles you are doing swell!

Here we go again!

Some people say that I act like Kermit, but on every day but Easter I’m more like a “Hermit”

“E.B.”

6) Great news fellas we are almost there, this took us some time but I don’t care!

This is your last clue…..

This is no time to be stuck in the mire, you’ll find your treats where you Dad makes “Fire”!

Hope you had a good time with our Riddle Game!

Happy Easter Boys, I’ll see you next year!

“The Easter Bunny”

Hope you enjoyed reading our riddles and come up with bunches of your own!

A Photo and A Year....

I love this idea of a photo a week (at least) that speaks for itself! Of course I can't help but gush over the Littles and have a bazillion photos of them so here it goes:
I snapped this photo last Easter while visiting my sister in Maine....
the Little Lady and her "Little" cousin frolicking in the yard! The dresses, the weather, the smiles and sweetness! To me it's what it's all about and makes me happy!

Heading to Maine again this year for our Easter celebrations and hoping to get more fabulous photos of all the Littles.

DIY: Easter Egg Goodness...

I love Easter, Spring and all the colors they bring. Bright colorful Easter Eggs are the most fun! The littles and I enjoy getting creative with our eggs each year!

 

In prepration for this year's festivities, this past weekend we cleaned and prepped our eggs and colored them in bright colors.

 

Using a Dremel, such a handy tool, a steady hand made holes in each end of the egg. The littles, using a piece of copper wire broke up the yolk and white inside making it easier to blow them out.

Save the egg fillings for later use. A cleaned out creamer container is perfect for this!

As a family we gather every year, as do many. We always have games and giggles and lots of delicious food. The Littles and their cousins have a fabulous time, as do the adults! This year I've decided to change up the egg hunt just a little. I'm the mom so I can do that. I've taken the beautiful, blown, colored eggs and created tiny tags for inside. Some have sweet sayings, some are instructions for a silly or nice gesture, but some are "winners". Who doesn't love a surprise?

This is what our eggs contain but you can put whatever you like:
· Hoppy Easter!
· You WIN $$$
· Fabulous Family Time
· Run around the house 3x!
· Hop on 1 foot for 10 sec.
· You WIN, pick a treat!
· Say something nice about your brother/sister.
· Make funny faces!
· You WIN a coloring pack!
· Have a great day!
· You WIN $$$
· Walk with an egg on a spoon!

The eggs from which one end was removed I decided would make a nice presentation for a yummy treat. After emptying, cleaning, and coloring the eggs they were ready to fill. Mixing chocolate chips and peanut butter chips I melted them in a bowl over hot water. Once cool enough to the touch but still runny I transferred the mixture to a large Ziploc bag and cut the corner off making a very efficient way to fill the eggs. I then let them harden in the refrigerator and tada!
Of course you can use any chocolate and a few I filled with candy.

I cut bright colors of felt into flower shapes and set them in an antique cupcake pan. I think this made a nice cushion for the filled eggs and great presentation overall!

Link-Ups:

Just Us Four - Pinworthy Project

Three Mango Seeds - Feed Me Friday

Kitched Meets Girl - Bunny Hop Blog Party

Happy Hour Projects - Bunny Hop

Nap Time Crafters - Friday Favs Party