RECIPE: Perfectly Pumpkin Cake Mix Waffles

After a very long heat wave this September, we are finally getting some nice, cool fall weather, hooray! I don't know about you but I have been totally craving fall. I want my tall boots, puffy vests, pumpkin spice lattes, and trips to the local apple orchard stat. 

There is just something about getting back to all things pumpkin and apple, right! It's like comfort food to me, best served warm and with people I love.

Well, to help make your (and my!) fall baking that much easier Pillsbury® has created a yummy variety of baking mixes that pull in all those awesome fall flavors.  New Caramel Apple Cake and Cookie mixes? New Caramel Apple Frosting? I don't mind if I do! And one of our new favorites would be the new Perfectly Pumpkin Cake mix...oh! it is soooo good. The spices. Yes, the spices...so yummy.

Have you ever tried making waffles using cake mix? Goodness, it is so easy, and delicious to boot. Here is the how-to for making an easy breakfast for you and your family that won't have you in the kitchen all morning sweating it out!

Perfectly Pumpkin Cake Mix Waffles (makes 4 belgian-style waffles)

1 box Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin Cake mix

1 cup water

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

Heat up waffle iron and grease if necessary. Combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Mix until moistened. Following directions to your waffle iron as to how full wells should be, pour batter into center of wells and close waffle iron. Bake for 3-5 minutes or until waffle iron signals waffles are done. Remove waffles using a silicon-coated utensil so as not to scratch the iron's surface. Top waffles with fresh whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon.

Ahh yes. Pumpkin cake...it truly is fall!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for stopping by today, I really appreciate it!

I have been compensated by the  J.M. Smucker Company to promote its Pillsbury Fall products, but the opinions expressed are my own. ©/® The J.M. Smucker Company. Pillsbury is a trademark of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, used under license. 

XOXO,

Mommy/Daughter Date: Picnic in the Park

At the end of the summer I was asked by Davidson's Organics and the Missouri Star Quilt Company to be a part of their Ultimate Picnic! program and to create a fun picnic theme to share. What fun, right! I love a good picnic. Remember this post here? Well, last week I decided it was high time I took my girls out on a little mommy/daughter date. It had been far too long since I had done anything with either of them that was just us. You know, without any errand running, after school activity pit stops, soccer games, heck, not even a brother in sight.

Since we've been having the most amazing fall weather, I thought a picnic at the park would be the perfect little getaway for us. I packed our picnic basket with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, animal crackers, apple slices, and some iced tea (caffeine free of course...my kids love when I let them have iced tea, I think it makes them feel grown up!)

I was sent a few boxes of Davidson's Organics have been loving all the fun brewed iced tea flavors they offer. I chose the Te de Hibiscus for my girls as it's caffeine free and they really enjoyed it, especially in their own little mason jar!

I was also sent an adorably happy fat eight bundle from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. I used the fabric to make each of my girls a cute Ruffled Mason Jar Cozy (tutorial found here!) to use at our picnic in the park.

We had so much fun. It was so nice being able to talk to them without the interruptions of any brothers. Since school started it seems that they have both grown so much. They had so much to tell me about school, their routines, their classmates, their favorite parts of their days. I loved it all and relished every bit of the fact that they were both such open books :-)

Ellie seems so much older now that she is in preschool. She is learning about the weather, the calendar, days of the week, she loves all the songs they sing and giggles as she tries to teach them to us.

And Penny. Wow! I knew she loved school, but hot dog, she downright adores it. Every. Bit. Of. It. She soaks it all in and remembers every detail of every day. Right now her favorite class is art, she is learning about money and loves the fact that there is a song about the penny (which she thinks is about her :-) ), she memorizes everything her teacher does and is so pleased with herself to share the minute by minute action with us. 

I'm not sure who had more fun on this picnic date, me or the girls. I do know that I cannot wait to carve out time to do this with the two of them again...as well as I am trying to find something special to do with my boys. Even if only for an hour, it ends up being such a special time and such a great memory for all of us!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO, 

RECIPE: 4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Icing

One thing I love about fall is all the pumpkin goodies that come out of hiding. I about bought each and every pumpkin thing I saw at Trader Joe's the other day. Oh! They get me every year. And don't get me started on all those yummy pumpkin recipes. I start making them in as soon as there is a slight chill in the air. And, of course when you make pumpkin goodies you are going to need to make some cream cheese icing to go with them, of course. So here is my favorite 4 Ingredient Cream Cheese icing just for you, enjoy!

4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 cup (4 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Slowly add powdered sugar and continue mixing until completely incorporated.  Stir in vanilla.

Butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla.

The makings of one delicious icing!

PS. This icing works great piped on a cake or spread over bars.  

Now go enjoy your all your pumpkin goodness even more with this icing!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

Chew for Change with Project 7

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Project 7 but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #chewforchange  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Have you heard about the company Project 7? They are a pretty awesome company whose mission is 

simple: To ensure everyone around the globe has access to fundamental human needs for a healthy life. To do this, they make everyday products that give back to seven areas for good around the globe. This includes products like bottled water, gum, mints, and coffee that everyday people can buy and for every purchase of a Project 7 product, good is done in seven areas of need...

2. Heal the Sick

3. Hope for Peace

4. House the Homeless

5. Quench the thirsty

6. Teach Them Well

7. Save the Earth

So cool, right! I love a company that gives back :-) Hearing about Project 7 inspired me to want to do something nice for someone else, how could it not? So the kids and I  thought it would be fun to give back to the teachers and staff at their school by making them a fun breakfast care package for their teacher/staff lounge. 

I headed over to my local Meijer to grocery shop and while I was there I picked up a bunch of packs of Project 7 gum in the checkout line to give out to people as a random act of kindness, you know how I love doing those! Now, I know that purchasing a few packs of gum may seem small but the impact is huge for those whose needs are being met through that one purchase plus it is so fun to make someone's day brighter by giving them a little something...even a pack of gum :-) I gave one to the cashier to brighten her day and it was so fun to see her smile. She said no one had ever done that before and that totally made my day to hear how happy such a small gesture made her feel! 

As I was leaving the store I saw a teenage boy happily walking his grandmother inside to help her grocery shop. I couldn't help but stop to tell them how wonderful seeing them was to me, it's not every day you see a teenager walking to his grandmother's slow pace and helping her grocery shop to boot. I gave them each a pack of gum too. I was feeling a bit like a small-scale Oprah at this point...You get a pack of gum! And you get a pack of gum! It was so much fun. When I came back home I had my kids get involved and we gave gum to our mailman, our UPS man, and a neighbor too.

That afternoon I baked up a whole bunch of pumpkin muffins with my favorite 4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Icing (recipe found here!) I packaged them up in cute pink bakery boxes wrapped in baker's twine and the kids tied the bow since they both learned how to tie their shoes a few weeks ago. I dropped them off with some ground coffee and a few packs of Project 7 gum early the next morning before work and holy cats the staff LOVED them! They were so surprised to get a breakfast care package and told me that they had never had anything like this brought to them before. They kept asking me why and was it someone's birthday, lol! It was sooooo fun to see the smiles on their faces I almost started crying.

I highly recommend doing something for someone else, how awesome is it to know that their morning was just a little brighter because I took the time to think about someone else! If you need more inspiration just watch the video below. Remember, giving back doesn't have to be a hard overwhelming thing, it can be as easy as buying a pack of gum! It really is one of the best feelings in the world to put a smile on someone else's face or help someone out. And even if you can't see the joy you brought to to them you can feel good about what you did which in and of itself is an amazing feeling.

 

Love that! Now don't you just want to go out and do some good! :-)

Learn more about Project 7 here:

Website :: Twitter :: Facebook 

Where to buy products

XOXO,

Bento Lunch Ideas: Week 4

Happy Monday folks! I just got back from a super fun girls' weekend at my friend Nicole's gorgeous lakefront home in Wisconsin. It was heaven on earth...and the first time I have ever been away from my little Oliver overnight! He did really well (yay!) so now the husband and I have hope for future getaways ;-) He was so flippin' happy to see me when I came home and my boobs were so happy to see him, holy engorgement...OUCH! 

It was seriously the perfect weekend. Good friends, good food, lots of wine, a beautiful lake to look at everyday, and blogging (!!) yup, we totally blogged and gave out advice and helped each other with ideas and chatted all sorts of nerdy things that bloggers love to talk about...it was so much fun! I am so grateful my friend Nicole let all of us come up and invade her cozy home on the lake, it was beyond words amazing. And we already have plans to head up again for another getaway, hee hee, I am so excited, now just to tell Mr. Smashed Peas!

Alright, so back to the real reason for this post...Week 4 of Bento lunches, yay! 

Lunch 1: Applesauce with cinnamon, strawberry cream cheese roll-ups with a little bunny pick, cheese cubes with a little puppy pick, grapes with a monkey pick, raw broccoli and cucumbers with ranch dressing.

Lunch 2: Blueberries with a mini giraffe fork, cucumbers and baby carrots with ranch dressing, kiwi with a monkey pick, Yoda ham sandwiches (using these cookie cutters) on top of a slice of swiss cheese (as requested by Noah!), and a Han Solo in chocolate carbonite (mold found here).

Lunch 3: Goldfish, kiwi with a mini kitty fork, blueberries with a mini kitty fork, flower shaped blueberry jam sandwiches, kitty cat molded cups with raisins and a hershey kiss.

Lunch 4: Applesauce with cinnamon, grape slices with a bear pick, blueberry breakfast bar from Trader Joe's, raw broccoli, heart shaped cheddar cheese slices, and heart shaped turkey sandwich.

Lunch 5: Ham roll-ups with animal picks, baby carrots, heart shaped cheddar cheese slices, orange slices with a mini kitty fork, and Enjoy Life! mini chocolate chips in a mini heart shaped silicone mold.

Lunch 6: This was one of Ellie and Oliver's lunches last week that we ate at the park! Sliced grapes, Annie's Cheddar Squares, a cheddar cheese stick, and trail mix made with raw pecans, walnuts, raisins, and dried blueberries.

And to sum it all up again, in case you need to pin this to Pinterest, here's another bento meal collage, horizontal-style.

 

Hope these help inspire you to make some fun Bento lunches this week!!! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO

Spreading Positivity with The Best Part from Folgers

If you have been a long time reader of my blog, you know I am a huge fan of doing Random Acts of Kindness and spreading joy and positivity (see here for a great post about it!). So today I'm couldn't be more excited to share with you that I have been asked to be a part of Folger's "The Best Part" campaign. This program is about the power of optimism. The idea that positivity can actually change the world, especially the little corner that you inhabit. 

It could be as simple as a smile at a stranger, a hug to a friend that is having a rough day, an encouraging word to a co-worker or your child, maybe a dozen homemade cookies to a neighbor just because, whatever it may be, being a positive force in this world of ours ripples outward and can build into a giant wave that carries hope and promise of better days ahead. 

The Best Part is an online community that's dedicated to brightening your day. Every. Single. One. 

You can help spread optimism one share at a time via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It's so easy! Sharing your positive moments can make an impact on our world because when you share inspirational stories or good deeds it not only makes YOU smile, it makes OTHERS smile too, and the best part? It's contagious! 

I hope you'll participate and share The Best Part of your day!!!!

XOXO,

Ikea Raskog Homework Station

With school in full swing now and homework starting to make its way into our house, I thought I would try to be a bit more prepared for all the color this, draw that, cut this, glue that directions that most homework begs of us.

Ya'll remember my love of Ikea's Raskog kitchen cart from my makeover post here, well, that one is for me...and all my sewing and craft goodness, muahahaha. Can I tell you how much I love that cart? So Dang Much. It's so handy to have around that I actually went back and bought another one for the kids. It had the makings for a perfect Homework station...and pretend library cart too! (my kids love piling it full of books and wheeling it around the house, checking books out and slapping overdue fines on each other, ha!)

I thought I'd share what I put in ours in case you needed a bit of "Homework Station" inspiration. Up top I have a simple pencil box full of colored pencils, next to it scotch tape, a white-out pen thing-a-ma-bob, and a pencil sharpener.  I also have little jars with kid scissors, crayons, pencils, gluesticks and erasers...you can never have too many erasers, am I right?

In the middle shelf I keep a big jar filled with fat markers, a small glass jar filled with fine tip markers, a mason jar of thick paint brushes, tempura paint, and a box of craft sticks.

The bottom shelf is for extra notebooks, folders, and paper.  I keep a few of these fun plastic paper protectors I found in the Target Dollar Spot. You just slip a piece of paper into them and write on them with erasable markers...perfect for practicing spelling and writing and math!

So there you have it, a simple Homework Station that we can roll into the kitchen, the dining room, or the porch! 

PS. I think right now a lot of stores are clearancing out their Back to School supply sections (at least mine are!) so you may want to head over and stock up for your homework station! I stock up every year!

XOXO,

Bento Lunch Ideas: Week 3

Another week means another Bento Round-up...ta-da! Week 3 for y'all...holy cats, can you believe my kids have been in school for 3 weeks already!

Lunch 1: Applesauce with cinnamon, hummus, cucumbers slices with an acorn pick, baby carrots, hardboiled eggs in the shape of a bunny and a bear (using these molds found here), Annie's cheddar bunnies and pretzel mix, and an Annie's chocolate chip granola bar with a cute little squirrel pick.

Lunch 2: Blueberries with a mini elephant fork, applesauce with cinnamon, baby carrots, dried coconut flakes, organic dried cherries with a leaf pick, and a mini bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a cute little bunny pick.

Lunch 3: A panda themed lunch! Blueberries with a panda pick, sliced grapes with a panda pick, ham roll ups(...with panda picks!), sliced cucumbers, baby carrots, and mini Club crackers with hummus.

Lunch 4: Applesauce with cinnamon, cucumber slices, baby carrots, ranch dressing, clementine with a little leaf pick, organic cheese sandwich crackers from Trader Joe's, Bacon jerky with a little froggy pick, and a blueberry breakfast bar from Trader Joe's.

Lunch 5: Sliced Grapes with a mini giraffe fork, sliced cucumbers and baby carrots with ranch dressing, blueberries with a mini lion fork, mini bagel with strawberry cream cheese, and a Han Solo in chocolate carbonite.

Blueberries with a mini doggy fork, applesauce with cinnamon, pizza picks (mini pepperoni slices with slices of string cheese) on light saber skewers, Han Solo in chocolate carbonite, dried organic cherries with a froggy pick, baby carrots, cheddar bunnies and pretzel mix.

And yet another bento meal collage for y'all, horizontal-style again, in case you like it better that way!

Hope these help inspire you to make some fun Bento lunches :-) 

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,