Roasted Peppers and Rope Breadsticks

At my house growing up, roasted peppers were one of our favorites! We couldn't get enough, and always rationed them out to make sure everyone had a fair share. ;) 

This side dish tastes is full of flavor and tastes like a delicacy, but they are so easy to make! I know bell peppers can be expensive, so I look for them to go on sale at Sprouts. 

Roasted Peppers

You will need:

2-3 Large bell peppers (red, orange, yellow or green)

1-2 Cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Lemon juice to taste

1. Wash your peppers and cut in half vertically. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 2. Place the peppers inside down on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

 3. Roast your peppers in the oven for 45-6- min or until the blackens and skin separates from the pepper.

 4. Let your peppers cool for about 15-20 minutes, then peel off the skin off your peppers.

 5. Slice the peppers into strips.

 6. Place your peppers in a bowl and crush garlic cloves in. Add olive oil and stir. Note: the more garlic you add, the spicier the peppers will taste. Its all up to preference.

  

 Squeeze in some lemon juice and enjoy on bread!

Rope Breadsticks

We love this dough recipe from Lauren's Latest for breadsticks and pizza dough. Make your dough, then follow the steps below for Rope Breadsticks

You will need:

1 batch pizza dough

4 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons parmesaen cheese

1/2 Garlic clove

1. Pinch off your dough into 8 sections. Roll each section into a snake about 1" thick.

2. Take two sections at a time and carefully twist them together. Pinch the ends to secure them.

3. Lay your ropes out on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Melt your butter in a small bowl and add garlic and cheese. Brush onto your bread sticks with a pastry brush. Bake at 400 Degrees for 8-10 minutes or until tops are golden.

I'm so excited for summer, and summer food! What is your favorite summer recipe?

How To: Cupcake Liner Corsage

Yesterday I shared a few Mother's Day projects for children. One was a Cupcake Liner Corsage. This was a project I did with my kindergarten class last year. You can find the finished product here. I thought the corsages were so cute, I decided to try to make one with a more grown-up look. 

You will need:

3 Large cupcake liners, any color

2 mini cupcake liners, any color

Gold craft paint

1 piece of felt

paintbrush

scissors

hot glue gun

fancy buttons/pearls

1 safety pin

1. Flatten one of your large cupcake liners.

2. Using downward strokes, brush gold paint on the edges of your liner. This does not have to be perfectly even, you are going for a brushed look. Set aside to dry.

3. Keeping your other 2 large liners lined up together, brush gold on the very edges. Do not flatten these liners. For this part, I kept my brush fairly dry, going for a more subtle look.

4. Repeat step 3 with your 2 mini liners.

5. You can give you liners more of a petal character by either cutting in to make rounded petals or simply snipping down every 4-5 pleats.

6. Take your last mini liner and pinch the base together to create a bunched center. Brush the tips of this liner as well.

7. Glue your layers together by placing a circle of glue in the center of each layer and press down one at a time.

8. Add a fancy button or pearl or both to your center!

9. Cut out a small circle of felt the same diameter as the base of a large cupcake liner.

10. Glue the felt down to the back of your corsage. Use a wide circle to glue the edges. The center of the felt should not be glued down to allow a pin to pierce through.

11. Use a safety pin the fasten the corsage to your Mom's blouse!

I hope she loves it! Definitely use Springy colors and buttons to match your Mother's style. :) I'm tempted to add one to my own accessories!

Mother's Day Projects for little ones

Mother's Day is this weekend and although I won't see my mom this week, I am so excited to see her in just a couple more! I went to college away from home, but I was able to visit home every couple months. It has been tough to live away from my mom for almost a year, but even from far away, she is still such an encouragement and always there for me. Moms are just amazing that way!

The fun thing about mother's day gifts is that Moms love anything from their kids! Last year while teaching, I did several cute and easy projects with my students. I wanted to share a few because these are great for not only teachers, but nannies, aunts, sisters, dads, anyone to help a little one make something special for Mom. :)

Handprint Flower Pot

You will need:

One sheet construction paper for background

Brown construction paper

Assorted color construction paper cut into flowers (I used a flower shaped punch)

Crayon 

Green paint

Big foam paint brush

Glue

Scissors

"My Love for you..." Folded Card

Extra long sheet of construction paper (any color)

Extra long strip of green construction paper

Brown construction paper

Any color paper for flower petals

Crayons

Glue

Scissors

" I love you....This much" Accordian Card

You will need:

Any color paper for hands

long strip of construction paper for accordian

Crayons

Scissors

Glue

 Cupcake Liner Corsage

You will need:

2 Large Cupcake Liners

2 Mini Cupcake liners

1 Large button

1 green pipecleaner (cut in 2 pieces)

Small piece of felt (for back)

1 safety pin

markers

glue 

scissors 

(check back tomorrow for a tutorial on these!)

One of my favorites is a goodie bag for Mom! How sweet are these little reminders?! I printed a sheet explaining each treat and inserted it in the bags.

Mom

Here are a few things that remind me of you!

Piece of gum- for sticking by me no matter what

Life Saver- for the sweet spirit you possess

Laffy Taffy- for laughing with me

Penny- for reminding me of the one sent from heaven to die for me

Hershey Kiss- for kissing away my boo-boos

Hershey Hug- for all the wonderful hugs you give me

Candle- for lighting up my world

Smarties- because you are so smart

Pom poms- since you are my biggest cheerleader

I love you very much!

Happy Mother’s Day! 

I love how these projects were fast and simple to complete!

Little Man Baby Shower

Back in March, my friend Ellen and I helped plan my sister-in-law's baby shower. Kristina chose a navy and light green color scheme for our little nephew's room, so we went with a "little man" theme. I loved the colors!

Ellen and I by no means pulled this off by ourselves, we had help from so many amazingly talented ladies!

 

How perfect is this sweet banner a friend made for the entrance?!

 This mobile was so simple to make, tutorial coming soon! I love party decor that can be used again in the home.

As ladies arrived, each wrote their words of advice on little onesies for raising children, especially little men. ;) The onesies were hung on a clothesline.

The food table had some of my favorite details! I never had the chance to snap a photo with all the food out, but got a few during the set up process.

 One friend made silverware bow ties!

 Fun to pick out paper designs for the "ties" to create the Little Man banner.

 Can we talk about this tree?! I'm swooning! This little guy's Nana...my awesome mother-in-law...made all the bow ties for Kristina to keep for him! Another of our friends put together and arranged them into a masterpiece. :)

 Delicious cupcakes, bow tie, and mustache cookies :)

 Click image below to download cupcake labels

 

"Wet Your Whiskers" Punch and mustache straws.

 

 Those of us who aren't mommies were the "students" in a hilarious skit Are You Prepared for Motherhood?

 

 Gifts for baby! Love baby boy outfits :)

 Artwork for the little man's nursery. This bow tie quilt is adorable!

 Isn't she a gorgeous Momma!? We missed having our other sister-in-law, Shannon there, but sweet to find a gift from her!

 Baby sock corsage. It can be taken apart to use the little socks!

 It was so fun to plan with Ellen!

 

Love this sister and her sweet family! The little man made his appearance this week!! He's perfect.