To the Moon and back.

Do you like it?  Its a birthday present for my wonderful husband! I am going to hide it in the veggie drawer until this birthday this weekend.  I usually do not post gifts before I give them, but I could not resist.  Also, my husband usually does not read my blog. ( I know. right?) 

 I thought up this idea in a dream I had last night.  I think he will love it.  I think that this would also make a great Fathers day gift.  

How to make a  " I Love you to the Moon and back" beer gift. 

Supplies:  

Orange and yellow card stock 

Black sharpie

orange marker 

craft twine

glue

scissors

1 6 pack of Blue Moon beer 

1) Make oranges out of construction paper I used a glass to stencil out the oranges on yellow card stock, then cut out orange triangles to make the oranges.  If you are familiar with Blue Moon, then you might know that it is best served with an orange slice.  

2) Tie or glue them onto the Beer package

3) On card stock write out an big THE to place over the "blue" on the beer package.  

4) Write out " And Back"  and glue both of these on the beer package. 

5) Write out a sign on card stock that says " I love you to" to glue on the top of the six pack. 

Thats it!

I just hope that my husband does not find this until his real birthday!

Like???
check out my blue moon ice cream

Summer zucchini pizza

Summer zucchini pizza

There is no flavor combination quite as amazing as caramelized onions and zucchini.  I feel like I am always putting these two vegetables together, but in different ways, all the time.

And its no lie, that when I do my Sunday grocery shopping, that I will often purchase 6 or maybe 8 zucchinis for the week.

Now that I live in Iowa, I go to farmers markets often, the zucchini has been plentiful this year.

Its funny that I have never posted this before, because its one of my Go to dinners.

How to make summer zucchini pizza

Ingredients:

2 zucchinis
1 onion
pizza sauce
pizza cheese
1 pizza crust.  or make your own
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1) Prepare your pizza toppings.  Caramelize the onion.  slice the 2 zucchinis.

2) Spread pizza sauce on the crust.

3) Add cheese
4) Place the sliced zucchini all over the pizza

You might have to stack the zucchini in order for it to all fit!

5) brush the zucchini with some olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

6) Place pizza into the oven at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. or until the zucchini is roasted to your satisfaction.

7) Add caramelized onions. and enjoy:)

Nonfat sugar- free pie cups

Yes.  This little pie cup has NO sugar.  NO fat added.  and is an AMAZING little treat!  This is literally just a few calories!

I happened to have blueberries from Costco that I had to use pronto !  ( What?  we didn't eat all the blueberries from Costco?) I know right?

I placed the blueberries in a saucepan and added just 1 other ingredient.  Lemon Juice.

NO sugar was needed!! Blueberries have a wonderful flavor already, they DON"T need extra sugar!  and NO splenda needed either!

I watched these blueberries turn beautiful colors. 

THEN. I pulled out leftover egg roll wrappers from my Egg roll wrapper calzones.  I cut them with kitchen sheers into fourths.

(  One Egg roll wrapper is 80 calories. Which means that each one of my blueberry cups will be 20 calories, plus the calories that are in the blueberries) 

I arranged the wrappers into a mini muffin tin.  and added the blueberries.  I added NO oil or butter to the egg roll wrapper.

I baked them at 350 F for 13 minutes.

Look at all this goodness for just a few calories!! ( I think I am starting to sound like the Hungary girl. My new obsession on the food network)

But Really, these were an amazing dessert ( and breakfast)

Cereal box cupcake holder

I made some cupcakes for the girls who work in the day care at my local YMCA.  They watch my 6 month old son almost every day of the week while I work out,  and do an amazing job!  One morning before heading to the Y.  I woke up early and baked them some cupcakes.

After the cupcakes were done, cooled and frosted, I scrambled around the house to find a box to bring them in.  I did not want to bring them on something I would need back.  I could not find a gift box anywhere!

I used my resourceful instincts and turned a cereal box into my cupcake box!

I just happened to have one of those cereal boxes with almost no cereal left in my pantry.

I cut out the center of the cereal box and used packing tape to shut the top of the cereal box.  I then covered the box with tin foil.

Easy. This was a 5 minute project.  I literally did this while my baby was in his carrier as we ran out the door.

I covered this with plastic wrap.  Maybe I will work on making this concept cute in a later post.

Egg Roll Wrapper Calzones

Lately I have been trying to make recipes healthier so I can loose my baby weight  get in shape for summer!

I was watching The Hungry Girl, a show on the Food Network where the host made apple pies using egg roll wrappers instead of using pie crust!  What a great way to have a tasty treat while saving a bunch of calories!

An Egg roll wrapper is about 80 calories.

I decided to dig a little deeper into this Egg roll wrapper concept.  I made calzones with the egg roll wrappers.  I LOVE Pizza, but pizza crust can hold many calories.

How to make Egg roll wrapper calzones

1)  Prepare calzone fillings.  Anything that you would like on a pizza will taste good in your calzone!  I made zucchini and onion calzones.

2)  My local grocery store keeps the egg roll wrappers in the produce section.

3) Lay out your egg roll wrapper.  Place your fillings on one half of the egg roll wrapper.  Add some cheese if you desire.

4)  Fold the other half of the egg roll wrapper over the fillings.  Fold the edges over and seal the edges with a fork.

5) Brush a little olive oil over your creation.

6) Bake your calzones at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes or until the wrapper is golden brown.

7) Use some marinara sauce for dipping and enjoy! 

Book of the month club!

If you are a reader of my blog, then you know that I LOVE giving homemade gifts! Especially for kids!

My cousin's little girl, Alayna,  recently celebrated her first birthday.  I wanted to give a cute gift, but also wanted it to be useful.

As a new mom myself,  I feel that books are always a wonderful gift for a baby.  While I was searching online  for gift ideas I stumbled upon " Book of the month clubs".  for babies and kids.  These " Book of the month" clubs were extremely expensive.  So I decided to make Alayna a semi homemade book of the month club kit for her birthday!

How to make a " Book of the month club" gift. 

1) Purchase 12 books.  I purchased these books on ebay, buying 12 new children's books in the store would add up.  When purchasing books on ebay, look for free shipping.  Otherwise shipping the books might cost just as much as the items you are purchasing.

2) Wrap each book individually, and indicate which day the recipient should open each book.

On each month. I glued on a symbol of that month.  For example, For June, I glued on a sun. 

3) Stack all the books in order and wrap up your gift. 

And THAT is how you make a " Book of the month" gift!  It is always nice for any child to receive a new book to read!