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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Happy April Fool’s Day

It’s the first of April and a beautiful time of year! Oh, how I adore Spring. But it’s also April Fools Day. A day of trickery and jokes. I am not a big fan of playing jokes or having jokes played on me; however, this April Fools Day is a special day. Because it’s a day the Board Members of the BMW club are coming over for dinner and a Board Meeting. Except this day it will be called a “Bored” Meeting.

And I’ve got a few other tricks up my sleeve. Nothing mean or mean-spirited, just a few friendly funnies that I hope will bring a few smiles and laughs. Those BMW folks need to be a little less serious. ๐Ÿ™‚

So for now, I have a joke for you, and a Happy April greeting:

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Soon I will post some more of my April Fool’s funnies: wait until you see the cake we have ordered just for this event!

Until then….

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Easter Burlap Bunny Bag

This is the first Easter where I have not put together Easter baskets for my kids….I usually have a basket for at least one of them! But this year they are ALL adults and all out on their own. And I’m not liking it one bit. Nope, I do not particularly enjoy the “empty nest,” it’s a little too quiet, a little too uneventful, a little too boring. We didn’t even color eggs this year.

Before you get too sad for me and my kid-less situation, I must tell you that we did have a BEAUTIFUL Easter Brunch and Easter table setting! ๐Ÿ™‚

And I did sew up an adorable “Burlap Bunny Bag” for my daughter.

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I had all the makings for an adorable Easter pouch to send to my daughter: burlap, pink gingham ribbon, pink glitter iron-on vinyl….(I’m in love with this new glitter iron on vinyl! I learned about it from The Glitter Academy…and now I’m sold. What else can I make with this stuff?!? I am sure I will be coming up with more fun projects for this new vinyl.)

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I sewed up a simple bag (using a straight stitch, and then a zig zag stitch on the edges to keep the burlap from fraying), then ironed on the glitter vinyl bunny. {I cut out this bunny with my Cricut earlier.} I used a tea towel over the vinyl as I ironed it down for about a minute or two. Then I peeled off the protective covering to reveal the brilliant glitter. I stitched on the pink ribbon and Voila! An adorable Burlap Bunny Bag to send to Amber!

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I’m going to fill it up with plenty of Easter candy and maybe a special small treat just for her (like nail polish or hair ties)! Do you think she will like it? I sure did miss her this Easter!

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I hope your Easter is overflowing with Hope, Joy, Peace, Kids and Easter Baskets! ๐Ÿ˜‰

Linking up with Lil Luna: Lil\'Luna

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Easter Surprise Rolls

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These Easter Surprise Rolls are simple to make and delicious! I made these growing up and I think since they are SO easy to make, we actually made them more often than just Easter time! They take only minutes to put together, and are so fun to make with kids (I know, I made them when I was a kid!)

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First gather the simple ingredients: Crescent Rolls, Marshmallows, Cinnamon Sugar, Melted butter.The next steps are super easy, and I will show you how to assemble them in pictures:

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Seal those crescent rolls well…you don’t want the marshmallow to escape! Dip just the bottom of the roll in butter and place it in a muffin tin. Now just bake them at 375 for 10-12 minutes! But be sure to put a cookie sheet underneath your muffin tin. The marshmallows tend to seep out a bit and they like to drip. {You will thank me later!} While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze.

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Just 3 simple ingredients: powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. I used my Watkins vanilla for this one. (Read the vanilla taste test here). After I made the glaze, I realized that I could have used my CLEAR vanilla and it would have kept the glaze a nice white color.

Allow the rolls to cool a bit, then drizzle on the glaze.

The surprise comes when you bite into one of the warm rolls and find they are EMPTY! What happened to the marshmallow?!

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Easter Surprise Rolls

1/4 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
2 pkg. crescent rolls (refrigerated)
16 large marshmallows
1/4 c. melted butter

Dip large marshmallow into melted butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place in wide end of crescent roll, fold corners over and roll to point. Seal edges well. Dip point side into butter and place down in greased muffin tin. Place pan on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Remove rolls from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Glaze while warm.

Variation: Place spoonful of canned apple pie filling in crescent roll and then put a large marshmallow on top of the pie filling. Fold, roll and bake.

Glaze:

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla

Whisk ingredients together. Spoon over warm rolls.

 

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Aren’t they beautiful? Enjoy!

Linking up here: Somewhat Simple

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Taste Test Tuesday — Vanilla Ice Cream

Oh, this taste test was so fun! But I might have gotten a *little carried away with this one. We had ELEVEN competitors in this taste test…yes, that’s ELEVEN different brands of vanilla ice cream that our judges had to taste. {Life is hard sometimes!}

And here’s what we found: Not all vanilla ice cream is created equal. vanilla-ice-cream-taste-test

For this taste test I looked for titles like: vanilla, Homemade Vanilla, Old Fashioned Vanilla, All Natural Vanilla, Natural Vanilla, etc. (No french vanilla in this taste test. No frozen yogurt. No gelato.) And I also wanted high-end brands and generic to be fully represented, as well as everything in between.

The idea was: if you were serving vanilla ice cream as dessert to some important guests, which vanilla ice cream would you serve?

I purchased a special MINI ice cream scoop for this event…I figured 11 tiny scoops of ice cream would equal about 1 regular scoop or so…not enough to give all the judges a stomach ache! There would be no casualties after tasting ALL this ice cream!

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See all those silver cups in the photo above? Those were all labeled with a number 1-11, the ice cream was given a corresponding number, and those were delivered to the judges. We also supplied water and the judging form.

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Let me introduce you to all the contenders (with approximate retail prices for each):

1) Kroger Brand Generic Artisan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. $3.49 for 1.5 qt. (48 oz)

2) Turkey Hill Homemade Vanilla. $5.49 for 1.5 qt. (48 oz.)

3) Graeter’s Vanilla. $5.49 for One pint (16 oz.)

4) Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla. $4.49 for one pint (16 oz.)

5) Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. $6.99 for half gallon.

6) Blue Bunny All Natural Vanilla. $6.49 for 1.75 qt.

7) Baskin Robbins Vanilla. $4.99 for 1 qt.

8) Haagen-Dazs Vanilla. $4.79 for 14 oz.

9) Breyers Natural Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.5 qt.

10) Dreyers Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.5 qt.

11) Tillamook Old Fashioned Vanilla. $5.99 for 1.75 qt.

One thing I’ve found while conducting all these taste tests is that not all the judges always agree. In fact, there was some debate over which ice cream was TRULY the best. But in the end, the majority ruled and the winner was declared. So here are the top 3 choices (who’s got the drumroll?):

CROWNING THE WINNERS:

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Tillamook makes a delicious cheese (one of my favorites!) but I had never tasted their ICE CREAM before, so I was quite surprised that it took first place. [Note: The only place I was able to find Tillamook was at Bashas.] Baskin Robbins has always been a favorite since I was a kid, but I NEVER choose vanilla when I go there (have you tasted their World Class Chocolate and Gold Medal Ribbon?! Wow). And Dreyers is a well-reconized brand, so that was expected, however one judge reported that it tastes like “store-bought syrup.” Other judges reported that it was “creamy and had a great ‘real’ flavor.”

THE LEAST FAVORITES:

The lowest rated ice cream brands were:

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Turkey Hill got zero votes. Zero. The judges found it was “too bland,” “tasteless,” and “boring.” Another surprise was Blue Bell rated one of the lowest! One judge said “Yuck!” But I’ve always thought Blue Bell was one of the best around. They do also carry a Vanilla Bean flavor…so maybe that one is much better than their homemade vanilla? (Can someone report on this?) The Generic brand was rated on the low end as well, but to be fair, one judge loved it for it’s creamy consistency.

DEDICATED – BONUS REPORT

After our taste test, I decided I’d better try some of my highly rated brands again. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “that girl is dedicated to her craft.” And it’s true. In the interest of reporting accurate and true results to you, dear reader, I opted to taste a few again and try them against each other. I did this bracket style: the winner of the first competed against the winner of the second, and so on. And I kept coming up with the SAME WINNERS time after time. So I thought I’d better give to you the Editor’s Top Picks:

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My winner each time was Haagen-Dazs. And before this taste test I DID NOT think I even cared for that brand. They must have changed something, or perhaps my taste buds are getting more refined with age?! I also really enjoyed Graeter’s (Linda’s top pick) and Ben and Jerry’s. But let’s be honest here: who chooses VANILLA Ben & Jerry’s when they have all those other tempting and interesting flavors? Not me. I’ve never even tasted their vanilla plain before.

EDITOR’S LOW PICKS:

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To give you the complete picture: other low picks from me and a few other judges were Breyer’s (I know, I thought that was a favorite! But when pitted against these other competitors, it tasted artificial and “off.”) and Blue Bunny (also artificial). I shed a little tear over this one because Blue Bunny has one of my current favorite flavors: Bunny Tracks!! Have you had it? Oh, so delicious.

Please share YOUR favorite Vanilla Ice Cream…or go out and try our winner(s) and let me know what you think.

So there’s the report on Vanilla Ice Cream. It was a pleasure to bring this report to you (really!) and I am open to suggestions for future taste tests. Just comment below.

Stay in touch to hear about our next taste test upcoming: ROOT BEER! It was meant to be: what could be better to create with the REMAINING vanilla ice cream than root beer floats? See you next time.

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Easter Hope

Happy Monday! I’ve been singing this phrase in my head lately, so I thought I’d better put it into a printable format. (Does that ever happen to you?)

Here is my chalkboard rendition for Easter Hope:

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{To see my other Easter printables in spring colors, click here.}

I hope your Easter is filled with hope, peace and joy.

To download this printable, please like my page here:

Then download the print here (the download will not have my website on it):

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I am linking up to my first Sundae Scoop Link party here:

I Heart Nap Time
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