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Puddintoes

Thirty (30!!) tiny bunny shoes have made their way to sweet little puddintoes all over the country this Easter. This is a photo of the last group of floppy bunnies, hanging out and waiting to be packaged for the journey to their new homes. 

posted to Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou.

Paint your cookies

Or.  Eat your paint.  As the case may be. 

First.  Make your favorite sugar cookies.  I’ve posted my recipe for Grammy’s sugar cookies here.  For Easter this year we made crosses, eggs, tulips and bunnies: 

Now for the “paint”  

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar (to taste)
• food coloring

Pour whipping cream into your mixer bowl.  Add the powdered sugar.  Start with 1/2 cup and then add more if you prefer it sweeter.  Whip until it becomes the consistency of, well, paint ;) 
Pour into small bowls and add your colors.  I used Wilton gel colors: 

Put a clean child’s paintbrush or two in each bowl.  Make sure they have never been used for real paint, though!
Let the painting begin!
Matthew is so, so serious with his painting.  No smiling please.


But he will show you his masterpiece if you ask nicely. 

More seriousness from Lacey. 

And dimples. 

Nolan.Likes.Blue.Paint.  And don’t anyone touch his blue paint, thank you. Except Uncle Matthew.  He can have some.  But no one else.  And that is final. 

Here he considers branching into the yellow. 

But remains true to the blue.  

Skyleigh loves all the colors.

As long as she can eat them! 

Aren’t they lovely? 

Let the paint dry before stacking your cookies.

Posted to: 
Tasty Tuesday
Tempt-My-Tummy Tuesday 
Works-For-Me Wednesday

Make your own fabric & room refresher spray

Nothing can freshen a room better than a few sprays of Febreze.  Unfortunately, it is expensive and an average family can burn through a bottle very quickly. 

But here’s the good news:  You can make it yourself.  And you don’t have to be an expert in molecular nuclear physics to do it!  I most often make mine with essential oils instead of fabric softener, but I’ll give you both versions: 

The basic recipe:  In a 32 ounce spray bottle (clean and use your old Febreze bottle) pour 4 tablespoons of liquid fabric softener.  Fill the bottle the rest of the way with water, leaving a little space at the top.  Give it a shake and there you have it.  You just made your own Febreze. 

The essential oil version:  Fill a clean 32 ounce spray bottle with water, leaving  space at the top for shaking.  Use about 1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon of essential oil in place of liquid fabric softener.  Lavender and rose are my current favorites. 

Whichever one you try, use it just as you would real Febreze. 

Posted at Works For Me Wednesday. 

Don’t forget to stop by and enter the bunny ears giveaway!

Mildred’s Baked Stew

This is a great recipe for a cool day.  It’s also unusual, in that you bake it in the oven.  Add some bread or rolls and dinner is served. 
MILDRED’S OVEN STEW

1 pound cubed London broil steak (original recipe calls for stew meat, but we prefer London broil)

1 onion, chopped

2-3 stalks celery, sliced

5-6 carrots, cut in chunks 

4-5 potatoes, cubed

1 can green beans with liquid

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 package dry brown gravy mix

1 tablespoon brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste Combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. No need to brown the meat first  Stir and cover.    

Bake @ 250 for 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Yes, you can use the crock pot or cook it on top of the stove.  But the texture and taste are slightly different… It’s just more yummy cooked in the oven :) 
Posted to: Tempt-My-Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. 
Don’t forget to enter the Bunny Ears Giveaway!

Bunny Ears Giveaway

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know a sweet little bunny who needs an Easter hat?  I’m giving away two hats this week!  One with pink ears and one with blue.   I crocheted them from soft white homespun yarn.  They are both size 0-3 months (up to 15” head circumference), but they are quite stretchy and may fit an older baby.   

Here’s how you can enter: 

# Leave a comment letting me know which hat you want to win.  There will be two winners… one for the blue hat, one for the pink hat :) 

# 1 extra entry if you visit Puddintoes and leave a comment telling me your favorite item in my shop :) 

# 1 extra entry for becoming a follower of this blog-- PrairieCottageRose. 

#  1 extra entry for following me on Twitter. 

#  1 extra entry for tweeting the giveaway. 

#  1 extra entry for becoming a Puddintoes fan on Facebook.

Remember to leave a separate comment for each extra entry!  Contest ends Sunday, March 14 at 5:00 p.m. mountain time.  The winner will be announced Monday, March 15. 

Good luck!

Newspaper Seed Starting Pots

If you plan to start vegetable or flower seeds indoors, there is no need to buy plastic or peat pots at the store.  You can make your own pots out of black and white newspaper.  They’re not only a great way to recycle a few newspapers… they save money, too! 

What you need: 

  Black and white newspaper, scissors and a bottle, can or jar.  Use a small bottle for seed starting or a larger one to make pots for transplanting seedlings.  

 
Use your bottle to measure how wide to cut the strips of newspaper.  I like to cut several layers at once to save time.  The paper strips should overhang the bottom of the jar. 

  Roll and wrap the paper around the bottle. 

 
Tuck and fold the bottom edges against the bottom of the bottle.  Press the bottle on your work surface to crease the folds. 

  Remove the bottle from your pot and fold the top down all the way around once or twice, depending on how tall you want the pots to be. 

Voila! Your first newspaper pot!  Fill with soil and you’re all set to start some seeds.   No need to remove the paper before transplanting into the garden.  The pot will decompose rapidly just like a peat pot. 

Posted to Works-For-Me-Wednesday.