Peanut Butter Oreo Brownie

I found this yummy recipe on Instructables and had to try it.  It has all the ingredients I love!  Oreos, peanut butter and brownie!  I thought it would be fun to do with my 3 year old today.  They were so easy to make and they tasted amazing!

Peanut Butter Oreo Brownie Recipe

1 Box Brownie Mix

Oreo Cookies

Creamy Peanut Butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 muffin cup baker with paper liners.  I made 18 total. 

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over 2 Oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other. Place oreo stacks into the cupcake lined muffin cups. 

Spoon some brownie batter over the oreos till the cookies are covered. 

Bake for 20 minutes, until brownies are cooked through. I had to bake mine for 25 minutes.  Let cool completely then serve. (I couldn't wait for them to "completely" cool!  They smelled so good, I was too tempted. They tasted great!)

The first batch out of the oven!

ENJOY!

Trick or Treat Sack

I have a friend with older kids and she wanted a trick or treat bag that was more like a pillow case with handles.  I found this pattern on Earthgirl for a Quick Carrier bag and thought it was perfect.  The pattern only gives you a tiny drawing and the measurements so that you can make it yourself.  I finally found a way to use all the math I learned in school!  I love geometry! :) 

Math skills at work!

I didn't want it to be this big, this pattern is more for a grocery bag, so I measured down about 12 inches and then cut.

I had to take about an inch off the sides until it looked good.  Then I cut out a felt pumpkin face.

Time for Trick or Treating!  Lots of candy can fit in this bag!

I thought the tutorial was really easy to read.  The only changes I made, besides the size, was that I lined the whole thing.  I thought it would last longer through the years of use.  

New England Apple Pie Recipe

I love apple picking in the fall.  I am from Arizona and never had the chance to pick anything fresh from a farm or grove growing up.  So I am as excited as my kids are about going to real apple orchards, strawberry fields, farms and pumpkin patches.  I also love apple pie in the fall.  This is a spice apple pie and it just tastes and feels like fall!

Apple Pie Recipe

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 T flour
3 Strong (decaf) Tea Bags
1 T lemon juice
butter (1/2 or whole stick)
4 cups peeled and sliced apples

Combine and mix well all the ingredients except the apples and butter.  Cover the pie crust bottom with a thin layer of apples then sprinkle the dry mixture over them.  Continue this till all ingredients are gone.  Dot top with butter and then cover with pie crust - pinch edges and cut slits in the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  Put and egg wash on top and then broil till brown.

Pie Crust (if you want to go all out)

2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter crisco stick
5 or 8 T cold water

Sift flour and salt.  Cut in shortening till pea sized crumbs.  Add cold water slowly till all damp.  Work dough with hands to form 2 balls.  Place each in their own wax paper and refrigerated till cool.  Roll out dough when ready to use.

Halloween Skirts And Frayed Flower

I was up all night last night determined to get two skirts and matching shirts made!  I wanted my girls matching and all dressed up for the pumpkin patch. (I bought an already made shirt for my oldest boy and made a little boy shirt for my baby, they were not forgotten.)  I made these twirly skirts with Riley Blake fabric.  I love them! I Love the colors of fall.  I bought the shirts at Target and took matching fabric from the Riley Blake Halloween Panel and cut out the pumpkins and appliquéd them on.  Then I found this great tutorial on frayed flowers from Maize Hutton and used a scrap I was going to throw away to dress the shirt up.  I love it!  It really adds a lot to the plain shirts.  I think I found my new favorite thing!

Custom Order Days

I have been so busy filling custom orders and trying to make a few extra things for an up-coming craft fair.  Trying to keep everything straight in the craft room and with my four kids is really starting to make me crazy.  I even have an eye twitch to prove it!  Here are a few pictures of what I have been up to.  Easier to show than to tell.

Bought lots of new ribbon!  Taggy blankets usually do well at craft shows.

Just finished 11 custom trick or treat bags!  There are 9 here, I had already given the other 2 to the buyers.

My son has his first loose tooth.  We got real creative one night trying to get it out.

My husband tried to shoot it out with a nerf gun... it did not work!

Then he tried the slamming door method...did not work.

Finally came out a few days later with pliers!  My little boy is growing up!

Excited to use his monster tooth fairy pillow.

Went and picked apples!  Lots of fun!

Then made 4 apple pies.  3 for our neighbors and one for us.  So yummy!  I will share the recipe.

So that is a little of what I have been up to.  When I have more time to breath I will write more and share the recipe for my favorite New England Style Apple Pie!

Watermelon

We have two little garden beds in our back yard.  I planted some cucumbers, tomatoes and a watermelon plant with the kids this year.  We were surprised when  some watermelons actually started to grow.  We had about 6 of them, but only one survived to be picked.  The kids were so excited to eat it.

Here is the watermelon!

It was pink inside, but it smelled amazing and was even sweet.  The kids ate it up so fast.  I think they liked it so much because they grew it.  I don't know much about growing watermelons, but I am thinking we should have left it alone for a little bit longer.