Sunshine in my pocket

Card Candi Challenge

By KariV on July 1, 2013 in Paper Crafting

I have three packages of Card Candi that I haven’t had the chance to use. So when I saw the Challenge from Simon Said Stamp, I decided that now was my chance!

See those circle shapes: the zebra and the hot pink metallic pieces? Those are the Card Candi.

I used Liquid Pearls to “paint” the word happy and I love the depth it adds to the word. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but I also watercolored a sunset behind the cutout and the flower.

It’s a simple card, but it does feel happy, doesn’t it?

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Dose of Sunshine Monday – Say it three times

By KariV on July 1, 2013 in Inspiration

Good Monday Morning! And Happy July! I have to say how thankful I am for beautiful blessings: my nephews came to stay with me for a few days, I had a NEW nephew born last week, and we’ve been celebrating birthdays and breakthroughs.

So it reminded me of an activity I used to do (and might take up again today!) that focuses on blessings and gratitude.

All you have to do is look in the mirror into your own eyes. Say this out loud three times:

Also name specific things you are thankful for. This will “Lock it in” and start your week off on a positive note! And it’s great to do throughout the day. Especially if you are having one of “those” Mondays.

So go ahead, let’s hear what you are blessed with!

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Lemon Picnic Pasta and a Free Printable Label (Plus 20 more fantastic summer recipes!)

By KariV on June 28, 2013 in Cooking Light, Recipes

Summer is great for light and easy recipes and I’ve joined forces with some other fabulous bloggers to bring you some fantastic summer recipes!

I love the flavors of lemon in the summer. I usually think of lemon dessert when I have a bunch of lemons, but this savory pasta dish comes in as my favorite picnic dish ever!

In fact, I am in love with this new pasta we made for our picnic last week. I call it “Lemon Picnic Pasta” because you can take it with you on a picnic, and it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. In fact, it is BEST when eaten warm or at room temperature. And that is the best kind of dish to take on a picnic!

It’s a quick recipe to throw together, too. {Bonus!} All you have to do is first, boil the bowtie pasta in water until al dente. Drain.
Add the butter, garlic, olive oil, salt, basil and lemon zest. (Find the full recipe near the end of this post). Stir well to well incorporate. Then simply enjoy!

Have you ever used a pair of these herb scissors? They are so great for cutting your basil into ribbons (chiffonade) for this dish! Or you can use a knife or a pair of regular herb scissors, but these are WAY more fun. 🙂

That lemon zest adds just the right amount of freshness and flavor to the dish. It is so refreshing in this pasta dish!

Just look at that pasta bursting with basil and lemon flavor! My husband prefers a little less lemon than what I usually put in, so I suggest you add a little at a time and taste it for yourself. You can always add more. 🙂

To take this on a picnic, just package it up in a chinese take-out box and add your label. Oh, yes, I made a Lemon Picnic Pasta label just for you! If you don’t have printable label sheets, you can print it on regular paper and just tape it onto your take-out box.

To download this tag, just like my blog here:

Then download the pdf tag here: lemon picnic pasta tag pdf

Oh, and before I forget, here’s the RECIPE for Lemon Picnic Pasta:

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Enjoy your picnic and your Picnic Pasta!

And now, take a look at these great summer recipes:

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Recipe Found! Brown Sugar Bumps

By KariV on June 27, 2013 in Dessert

When I was a little girl, my sister and I used to make a recipe ALL. THE. TIME: called Brown Sugar Bumps. They were easy to make (no baking, no cooking) and SO delicious (at least I thought so when I was a kid).

Since we’re both OLD(er) and married now, we’ve talked about that recipe many times, but we misplaced that well-used recipe book.

The other day, I came across the recipe and I was ECSTATIC! So of course I made them right away! They are just as delicious (and easy) as I remember. And they only lasted ONE DAY at my house.

These aren’t very fancy looking, so I gussied them up with a little gold. 🙂 They sort of remind me of tiny no-bake cookies, but they don’t have chocolate or cocoa in them. Here’s what they require: (full recipe near the end of this post)

First, melt the butter in the microwave. Add the brown sugar, peanut butter and oats. Stir until well combined. This mixture is a little soft, so refrigerate for a bit before you form them into little “bumps.” I just put them in the refrigerator while I was cleaning up, then they were ready to form. See? Easy!

I remember my sister and I would hand roll each of the little bumps, but now I have a mini ice-cream scoop that does the trick nicely! {It’s about the size of a melon baller.}

And in no time at all I had all these little treats:

I sometimes think that when you grow up loving something that you are just “trained to like” them. Case in point: I used to LOVE Tiger’s Milk protein bars. My mom told us they were candy and she’d hide them at the top of the pantry. That wouldn’t stop us as kids: we’d climb up those shelves and find them! I still like them to this day. But my husband (and many of my friends) who have tried them tell me they are not so good!

So I thought this might be the same story with these Brown Sugar Bumps. So far, everyone loves them. Proof: they are gone already! I will have to make some more and take a poll. 🙂

Here’s the recipe:

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So go ahead and give one a try and let me know what YOU think.
These are for you, Sis!

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Taste Test Tuesday — Chocolate Cereal

By KariV on June 25, 2013 in Taste Test Tuesday

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to have sugar cereals often. They were a special treat for me and my siblings and I’d love to get CEREAL for my birthday or Christmas when I was young! (now I prefer gift cards, just in case you were wondering)

So now that I’m an adult, I love to have cereal as a snack every now and again. And most of the time I crave a chocolate cereal. So that is how this taste test was born. I knew that we MUST find the best Chocolate sugar cereal out there, and with the help of all my judges (which included both adults AND kids this time…a first in the history of Taste Test Tuesdays) I think we found a winner!

When I was doing research for this taste test, I was surprised at the number of chocolate cereals out there! There were so many, that I included all that I could without adding any generic brands this time. And I just had to put my foot down on one possible contender:

I just couldn’t see myself saying “Oh, I am really craving some Fiber One” (chocolate or otherwise)! So, sorry all you Fiber One fans out there, this one was NOT included in the taste test!
But seriously, has anyone tried these? Are they any good?

So here are the REAL contenders for this taste test:

1) Cocoa Krispies
2) Chocolate Frosted Flakes
3) Chocolate Cheerios
4) Chocolate Chex
5) Double-Chocolate Krave
6) Cocoa Pebbles
7) Chocolatey Crunch
8) Good Morenings
9) Chocolate Lucky Charms
10) Cocoa Puffs

Wow, that’s a bunch of great chocolatey options! Have you tried all these? I have to admit, I hadn’t tried the majority of these so I knew this was going to be an eye-opening taste test.

My sister predicted the winner from the adults taste test panel would be CHOCOLATE CHEERIOS. She said it was chocolately enough without being too sweet. Guess what, sis? It placed in the top 5, but NOT first place!

We had to conduct this taste test in multiple panel meetings because there were so many cups of cereal!

Now to declare the winners in each category:

The adult taste test panel found that they enjoyed the Cheerios, but the top five cereals in order were….(drum roll, please)

Interestingly enough, the top five for KIDS were nearly the same:

That Post Good Morenings is interesting…it had cinnamon mixed in with the chocolate and tasted a little like mini churro bites! Personally, I’m not sure I could eat an entire bowl of it, but it was pretty good. Many kids picked this as their favorite.

Now to declare the WINNER:

Congratulations, Chocolate Frosted Flakes! It had the best chocolatey taste and it made delicious chocolate milk. (followed closely by Cocoa Puffs)

I’m very much in agreement with the winner…it’s been a favorite of mine for a long time. And it remained my favorite after this taste test.

THE LEAST FAVORITE:

Now, I must mention that KRAVE made it to the list of top 5 for the kids because if you are a 5 or 6 year old little boy, apparently this is the BEST cereal ever!! It was voted #1 by boys in that age bracket (only). For all others, kids and adults included, it was the LEAST FAVORITE and some had even very STRONG adverse reactions to this cereal. Most didn’t eat more than one or two bites of it.

I have lots of this box left, but I’m glad my nephew Garrett will take care of that for me! 🙂