Peeps in a Jar

I saw this as I was searching for some gift ideas for cooking with kids.

Ingredients in the Jar:

Crush 1 sleeve of graham crackers to crumbs( or you can use the box of crumbs) and layer 2/3 of the crumbs in a 1 qt. canning jar. I have a canning funnel so that really helped when pouring the crumbs and M&Ms into the jar.

Place 8 marshmallow bunny peeps standing up, facing out around the inside of the jar pressing them against the glass -- this is the tricky part so I used a wooden spoon to gently squish and press those bunnies into a circle.

Carefully, spoon the remaining crumbs in the center of the jar to support the bunnies, pressing down to keep it snug.

On top of this pour 1 ½ c. Easter M&Ms.

Spoon 1/3 c. Brown Sugar into center of M&Ms gently pressing with a spoon. You have to shake it a little to get the ingredients to settle so they fit -- if they don't all fit in, just eat those extra M&Ms!

Decorate the lid of the jar however you please and tie ribbons around the neck of the jar with a tag attached that has the baking directions.

And here are those directions to put on the recipe card
Directions:

Empty the jar contents into a bowl.

Melt ½ c. butter, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour this over the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pat into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. leave Place the bunnies on top; then bake as directed.

Creative versions of these "peeps in a jar" for other holidays now that there are ghost Peeps and Christmas tree Peeps... don't you just LOVE Peeps -- and marshmallows are fat free!

Natural dyes for Easter Eggs

Sometimes take on a bit of the flavor of what they died with... cherry and onion flavored eggs are a bit icky.

Directions:
Put eggs in as large a pan as possible. The process works better if the eggs aren't stacked on top of each other. This may mean you can only do 3 or 4 at a time (but that will give you the chance to try more than one kind of natural dye)
Fill the pan with water so that it's about 1/2 inch over the eggs
Add the natural dye material it takes a fair amount of the dye... for example, 1 cup of cherries

Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.
With a strainer, remove the eggs onto a bowl covered with paper towel.
If the eggs aren't as dark as you'd like, remove the paper towel from the bowl and add the cooled strained liquid you originally used to dye the eggs.
Let sit overnight.


Natural Dyes you might try:
Red/Pink: Fresh beets, canned cherries or frozen, crushed cranberries (not cranberry sauce or jelly)
Orange: yellow onion skins
Light Yellow: lemon peels, orange peels or ground cumin
Golden yellow: Ground Tumeric (a kind of spice)
Light Spinach
Blue: Red cabbage leaves or blueberries (crushed)
- Pre-boil red cabbage leaves for 30 minutes.
Purple: Grape juice (Welches)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for Ireland's national holiday – St. Patrick's Day.

Around the World on the 17th March, Ireland is celebrated with parties and parades but the main party is in Ireland where they celebrate for five days. There's so much to offer - music, street theater, family carnivals, comedy, street performances, dance, a treasure hunt, night spectacles .... culminating on March 17th with the world famous St. Patrick's Day Parade.

So whether you're Irish or just wish you were, Ireland is the place to be in March to enjoy the big party.

May your blessings outnumber The shamrocks that grow And may troubles avoid you Wherever you go

How about a meal:
Irish Soda Bread
Cabbage Soup

Awesome!!

I absolutely love this song, turn up the volume and let it flow all over you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtrnB4FZ-yc

Showing my love

My husband Richard is a fantastic man.

He will do anything I want.

He never forgets a special occasion with a card. I am always surprised that the cards he gets me always says exactly what he always tells me.

I saw another man's love today while we were out driving. He bought his wife a bulletin board!! It said XXX loves XXXX Happy 20th with many more to come. I thought WOW.

On the 17th of this month, we will have known each other 10 years. I have been wondering what to get him. Now I know I can't afford the bulletin board, but I found this instead. He is a printer and one of his favorite type styles is Ransom Initial.


Made with My Cool Signs.Net

Read Across America

NEA's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2

The Purpose of Read Across America
Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.

I love to read, and have always!! I read mostly Sci. Fi, Fantasy, and Mysteries, but it was not always like this.

I have been a special education teacher for over 24 years, and have always read to my students. I even read to my high school kids.

I really love Theodore Giesel, not sure who that is?
What if I said he was called himself Dr.?

Still not sure, what if I said he used his middle name, which was also his mother's maiden name?

Still need some help? He wrote a book with 220 words that every new-reader needs to know.

DR. SEUSS!!!

Dr. Seuss, or Theodore Giesel, was born March 2, 1904. He wrote many books, but his first children's book was And To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street. But did you know he sent it off 27 times and it was rejected 27 times!! Talk about perseverance

Houghton-Miflfin and Random House asked Dr. Seuss to write a children’s primer book with new –reader vocabulary. Just using 220 words and he wrote The Cat in the Hat. The rest as they say is history.

But, did you know that Dr. Seuss also wrote political cartoons? And some of his books had underlying meanings.

He even wrote a book for adults: The Seven Lady Godivas.

I still have the first Dr. Seuss my parents bought me, so enjoy some magical rhyming with Dr. Seuss and read to your child to get them into a lifelong habit of reading.

But don't stop today, read everyday with them.

Leverage

I had been anticitpating Leverage since I first saw it advertised. I love the intro: Prepare to get even.

Robin Hood and his team

Cast of characters: Nathan: the honest leader

Alec: computer geek ( with a bit of internet fraud mixed in)

Eliot: retrieval specialist: actually deadly martial artist

Parker: thief that specializes in aerial

Sophie: con artist supreme

The premise of the show, get even with those who use power and wealth to victimize others.

I really loved how the con was alot like Ocean's 11.

The series premiers on Tuesdays at 9:00 CST.