Thursday, February 6, 2014

Flattened Potatoes


The greatest potatoes on earth…...or so my husband calls them.

This original recipe is from Pioneer Woman.  She rocks!!!

First you boil your potatoes…..or hit the baked potato button on your microwave like I do.

Drizzle olive oil all over a pan.



Place cooked potatoes on the pan.


Press down on potatoes with a potato masher and slightly flatten.

Brush the tops with olive oil & sprinkle with lots of salt, some pepper & a fresh herb.

Bake on top rack @450 for 20-25 minutes.

***Hint---I ended up cutting my potatoes in half to make them even smaller.
It made them even more crunchy. 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Valentine's Day ideas

Here are some Valentines Day ideas for you…..


Aren't these little hearts cute?
You have to plan ahead to make these.  
I cannot find mini candy canes in FEbruary, so you have to plan around Christmas when they are sold in the stores.

For the first time since I made them TWO years ago, I planned ahead and bought the mini candy canes in December.

Yay ME!

You will need:
Mini candy canes (2 per Valentine Heart)
Red candy melts
Lollipop sticks (short or long)
Sprinkles….any kind of course (I used white sprinkles and little pink hearts)

Put 2 mini candy canes together to form a heart
Insert lollipop stick from the bottom all the way to the top
Melt red candy chips in a bowl
Spoon into the heart shape
Add sprinkles on top
Put in fridge to harden

Serve as is to your kiddies, or bag them up and make them pretty to hand out.


I obviously had a wide range of candy canes that year.  
The girls all chose their favorite.




On a side note……this was the dinner spread that particular year


OOOh - yum…..lobster tails for the adults

Pancake monkey faces for the kiddos



"fortune cookies"
I made these out of fruit roll ups with little messages inside.

These are hershey kisses with special messages that we bundled for the teachers.

My blurry mantel pic

These are bookmarks made out of paint samples that we gave to all the kids.
We used a heart whole punch in the middle, added a tiny hole at the top and tied with ribbon.