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Butterscotch Bars For Father’s Day

Butterscotch Bars–
5 ingredients.
5 minutes to make.
25 minutes to bake.
=35 minutes for a simple, thoughtful and yummy Father’s Day gift.

My father-in-law loves Oatmeal Scotchies (ya know, the oatmeal cookies with the butterscotch chips in them?).  They are super good, but he is pretty health conscious, so I thought I would try something a bit different with healthful ingredients in mind, but still with a buttery, butterscotch flavor.  I’ve been eyeing this 5 ingredient recipe for Butterscotch Bars from Heavenly Homemakers for awhile now,  and hoped they would taste as good as she made them sound.  Well, of course they do–after all, it is a Heavenly Homemakers recipe, and she never disappoints.

Now, when I say healthful, I do not mean eat- a-whole-pan-in-one-sitting kind of healthful.  They do have a cup of butter in them, so they are not low calorie.  What I mean is that they are made with healthful ingredients that are not artificial, and contain ingredients that are beneficial to the body. (example-fiber from the whole wheat flour, protein from the eggs)

My husband was heading out the door to meet his dad and brother for dinner and a movie, when I stopped him and pleaded for him to wait a few minutes so I could finish up the bars.  I got that look from my husband, the look that said “you know my dad is a stickler for punctuality, please hurry!”  Well, my patient husband waited for me to package these pretty, and in turn was 5 minutes late to dinner on Father’s day.  Oops. 🙁  Hopefully a little package of still-warm-from-the -oven Butterscotch Bars will make it all ok. 🙂  I dearly love my father-in-law, and I am so very thankful for his influence on my husbands life, my life and my children’s lives.  I love you, Don! (I’m smiling.  It is good he does not read my blog, that PDVA -public display of verbal affection-would make him roll his eyes.  You know the type, tries to be grizzly on the outside but everyone knows he is teddy on the inside-love it)

To be quite honest, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with gratitude on this Father’s Day.  I have been so blessed to have an amazing husband who is such a great dad to our girls, a super loving, giving and involved father-in-law, and my own daddy, whom I know loves me, has done so much for me, and reads my blog despite most of the content being of little interest to a guy like him-now that is love, huh? (miss you dad, hope you are having a GREAT time in Wisconsin!)  I. AM. BLESSED.

On to the recipe…
it is easy and really yummy.  It is bursting with buttery goodness and a bit on the gooey side–yum. I’m wondering if it would be just as good with a little less butter in it.  I may try that next time.

Easy Butterscotch Bars
1 cup butter, melted
11/2 cups sucanat (pure cane sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
11/2 cups whole wheat flour

Stir butter and sucanat together.  Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well.  Add whole wheat flour and mix until well combined.  Pour batter into a 9×13 inch pan ( I greased mine)  Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
The Girl Creative

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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

How To Feed A Large Crowd Without Cooking Or Baking

Need to feed a large crowd of people but don’t want to turn on the oven?
Want to have a party without showing up exhausted from cooking? 
Do you want to know how to create a lite and healthy, well-rounded meal without spending much time in the kitchen?

Well, this post will tell you how. Actually, it will tell you how my sisters and I did it. A week ago today, we threw my youngest sister a baby shower.  We had about 20 people coming, and we wanted to have a beautiful array of food, but did not want to spend much time making it all.  My youngest sister was only in town for a few days, so we didn’t want anything to keep us from spending as much time with her as we could, and we were not interested in hanging out in a hot kitchen for that spent time!
Our solution was to make our own Hearty, Healthy & Delicious 
SALAD BAR!

We wanted it to be hearty enough to pass for dinner, so we made sure we included toppings that were filling and hearty– protein and carbs along with typical vegetable toppings and fruit.  Some of our protein toppings included shredded chicken, bacon, cheese and nuts. (could also use hard boiled eggs and beans.)  For carbs, we included whole-wheat mini bow-tie pasta noodles, and served bread along with the salad.

{that is my sisters hand, don’t you like her funky green nail polish?
I’m so bummed I didn’t get good pics.  My camera quit on me right at the beginning of the shower}

So how to do this without slaving over a stove/oven? 

Here is what you do:

~Make a grocery list of salad toppings (the ones we used are listed below)

~Go to Wal-mart, buy ingredients for toppings.

~Stop by Sam’s Club (which is usually right next door to Wal-mart) and pick up a few Rotisserie Chickens and their Spring Salad Mix.

~Swing by Panera Bread (or any bread store/bakery), and pick up a few loaves of Asiago Cheese Bread.

~Hit your local dollar store for paper products.
*I went to the dollar tree and found clear, hard plastic bowls that were the perfect size for our toppings.  I knew all the colors of the vegetables and toppings we used would make art on the buffet bar if we used clear bowls.  They also had large, clear hard plastic bowls, so I bought 3.  One for punch, one for the spring salad mix, and one to hold sliced bread.
I was delighted that they had small, clear serving tongs, 4/$1.00!  They also had a punch ladle and small, clear punch cups.  I found little coffee stirrer type straws, they were blue and white (matched our shower colors) and were the perfect size for the punch cups.  

Once you have all your supplies, it is just a matter of chopping and putting the toppings into Ziplocs until ready to use. We kept chopping to a minimum by buying veggies that were conveniently packaged, for example-shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, shredded cheese, heat and serve bacon.  Convenience was the way to go to keep it simple enough to get it all done and enjoy my sister!

Our Menu:
Hearty, Healthy & Delicious Salad Bar With A Trio Of Salad Dressings
Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Cute Cupcake Toppers
Lemon Refresher Punch-I may be posting about this, gotta find out if it is a “secret” family recipe or not:)

That’s it!  Simple, Simple, Simple.

The Lemon Refresher and Cupcakes can both be made the night before, which again, helps with simplifying.  We were going to make homemade dressings, but then decided to buy it instead. We stood in front of the dressing aisle, a bit stunned by all the different types of salad dressings.  We choose Briannas Fine Salad Dressings, mostly because the bottles were pretty:) but also because they had 3 different types that we thought would suit most tastes.  We got Poppy Seed (my favorite and the most popular of the evening), Blush Wine Vinaigrette, and Caesar.

This Salad Bar idea would be great for groups large or small, and even though we went a bit crazy with the number of toppings, you really could minimize that, too. The feedback we got from those attending the shower was all positive.  We even had a number of children there, and they loved it too!  Yes, there were lots of vegetables, but there was also a lot of fruit, shredded chicken, pasta noodles and cheesy bread, which kept the kids happy and satisfied.  

I will be doing this often, whether it is for a ladies luncheon, a bridal or baby shower, or just having another couple over-it would work well in many situations.  I do love to cook and bake, but sometimes it is just nice to just have a break and keep the oven off!

Our Salad Bar:
Spring Mix Salad
3 Dressings
Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
Chopped Bacon 
Whole-Wheat Bow-Tie Pasta
Sliced Strawberries
Blueberries
Grapes
Pineapple
Mandarin Oranges
Dried Cranberries
Avocado
Green Peppers
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Carrots
Peas
Radishes
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Feta Cheese
Croutons
Sunflower Seeds
Sliced Almonds
Asiago Cheese Bread

*** I Am Pleased To Be Linking Up To These Wonderful Blog Parties. *** 

This post is linked to:

Friday Favorites @ Simply Sweet Home
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Weekend Wrapup Party @ Tatertots & Jellow
Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk
Tasty Tuesdays @ Beauty & Bedlam
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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties

Making Tissue Pom-Poms

Thursday we threw a baby shower for my little sister.  We had lots of fun planning it, it was just so great to see family and to watch my little sis get showered with love and gifts.

{shower decorations ready to be placed}

We kept the decor simple.  Blue, white and brown were the colors.  We (my sisters, mom & I) handmade all the decorations, and were pleased with the final result and the final cost of it all!

{lrg poms hanging, med poms on table, small flower poms in the can}

The main decor were tissue pom-poms.  We made large ones to hang from the ceiling, medium ones to sit around in various places, and small ones with a wire stem that were stuck in cans as tissue pom flowers.

{inspirational pic, source unknown}

I’ve seem this tissue pom idea all over the web, made popular again by the great Martha Stewart.  She sells kits to make them at Michael’s Craft Stores.  You still have to do the work of separating the tissue when you buy her kits, so she is charging a bundle to do the easiest part for you.  Thankfully she is gracious enough to put a “how-to” on her website, which is where I went for directions.  Destri @ The Mother Huddle also featured a great tutorial on her site.

{inspirational pic, source-Martha Stewart}
  Wal-mart had the blue and brown colored tissue that I needed, it was 97 cents per package.  The large poms were under a dollar to make, & I could make at least 10-12 smaller poms for a dollar.  Can’t beat that price!

{inspirational pic, source unknown}

These poms are ideal for all types of situations.  I have a friend whose sister is using them as decoration for her wedding.  I have a sister-in-law who hung them in her daughters room & they are just darling!  They are perfect for baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties and tea parties.  They are so inexpensive and easy to make! As you can tell, I am a big fan of the tissue pom.

*I have more baby shower related posts to come!  One on the yummy Lemon Refresher recipe we served, and another on “how to feed 20 people a well rounded meal without using your stove or oven!” (and no, it was not catered)  Stay tuned!:)

The Girl Creative

5
FUN/DIY/ Mothers Day/ Valentine's Day

A Gift Of Love In A Jar

This is a fast, fun way to tell someone how much you love them.

Supplies:

1 jar

1 lid

Fun Paper

Ribbon

Glue Gun

Embellishments

A Tag

~Cut a circle out of paper (I used a circle cutter, love that thing!)  Glue it to the top of the jar.
~Cut strips of paper, write reasons why you love the one you are giving it to.  (could do memories and make it a memory jar, too)
~Put the paper in the jar, screw on the lid and tie it with a ribbon.
~Add an embellishment, if desired.
~Add a tag

This makes a great Mother’s Day Gift, and would also make a great Valentines Gift!  My little girl helped me make one for her Grandma for Mother’s Day, then surprised me by making one for me all by herself! Here is what she had to say on her strips of paper..
I love you because:
“You take me on dates”
“You made us art bags”
“You let us have guinea pigs”
“The look on your face at the pool”–huh??:)
“You created charts for us”
“You take us on picnics”
“You started rocks” (our new behavior system)
“You clean the kitchen”
“You got my bed fixed”
“My birthday party”
“You let us eat hot dogs from the grill sometimes”
“You made a garden”
“You let us move to (the city we live in)”
Awww, so sweet!  She even put a fuzzy baby chic in my jar that would tweet whenever I shook the jar 🙂

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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties/ Homemade Gifts

Homemade Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

I have some pretty special women in my life that call me daughter.  I love them dearly and I am looking forward to using Mother’s Day as an opportunity to tell them so!  My girls and I will be making a couple of the below projects.  There are so many great ideas all over the web, it is hard to choose!

This post is linked to:
Creative Cats @ Poppies At Play
Frugalicious Fridays @ Finding Fabulous
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride

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FUN/DIY/ Holidays/Parties/ Seasonal

May Day Baskets

We have never made May Day Baskets, but have been the recipients of them many times and boy, what fun that is!  My Aunt Linda and her girls introduced us to May Day baskets by sneaking them onto our doorstep in years past, but now we live too far away and her girls are all grown up!   We have a couple friends here that have surprised us the last few years. It is always such a fun thing to hear the doorbell and find treats left behind by someone who loves us.  For those of you who are not familiar with the May Day Tradition, the basket giver rings the bell and runs away.  The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver.  If caught, tradition said a kiss was to be exchanged!

Every year I say I am going to do it, but then do not get around to it.  I saw a few cute ideas online which made me think that I REALLY had to do it this year, so I did!  The baskets we made are inspired by three different May Day Baskets that I found online.

 I started out making holes in the cups with a paper punch, but that made my hand sore, so I used the point of my scissors instead, twisting the scissors to make the hole.  Much easier!

I found some items of clothing that were ripped and not worth sewing back together.  I cut them in 3/4 inch wide strips of fabric and laced it around the rim of the cups.  My lil’ one loved helping me with this part.

The handle was made with wire, glued between two strips of ribbon.  This basket from Skip To My Lou was the inspiration for the handle.  We glued little flowers in pretty spring colors on to embellish, which I found on clearance at the craft store.

I wanted to fill them with treats that are not full of all kinds of artificial stuff.  I know that holidays are a fun time for treats, and we eat our share of junk during a holiday, but I wanted to see if I could find a way to make a treat basket without a bunch of artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup.

I choose popcorn, honeycomb cereal (I thought the flower shape was cute and they don’t have a ton of sugar in them, at least for a treat), dried blueberries, multi-grain cheerios, and to top it off, …a Lindt Lindor Truffle.
My girls are very excited to deliver these little baskets tomorrow. There is just something so fun about ringing a door bell, leaving a basket and running away!
Happy May Day!!
This post is linked to:
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Weekend WrapUp Party @ Tater Tots & Jello
Super Crafty Saturdays @ One Crafty Mommy
Sundae Scoop @ I Love Naptimes
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Made It Mondays @ The Persimmon Perch
Made By You Mondays @ Skip To My Lou
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative

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