Snacks

Here are a couple of the appetizer/snack recipes I tried (and liked) last week!

 Bacon Ranch Cheeseball

Brownie Batter Dip

 Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

 

Meatballs (with my homemade BBQ sauce)

Chicken French Bread

1 loaf french bread spread with onion dip, 1 large can chicken (mixed with some mayonnaise to moisten) topped with cheese and baked till cheese melts.

Baked Mushrooms

Dip in egg first

 

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Ham Sandwiches

Entertaining Guests

I'm back to blogging -- for a week at least!

This past week we were having special services at our church and it falls my lot to entertain the guest speaker.

I thought I'd share a few things I do to in preparation for entertaining guest speakers in my home.

WELCOME BASKET

Above you'll see a welcome basket -- usually filled with little things like:

Notepads

Homemade Greeting Cards

Peppermints

Magazine

Candle

And in this case a knife for the speakers pocket knife collection!

 SNACK BASKET

I fill a basket with snacks for in between meals....just in case a hunger pang strikes or they need a sugar "pick-me-up."

Included in this are:

Cereal Bars

Snack Crackers

Peanut/Almond Bars

Fruit Snacks

CLEANING

I spring clean both the bedroom and the bathroom to be used by the guests.

This entails:

• Moving furniture to sweep up dust bunnies
• Wiping down cobwebs from ceiling corners
• Scrubbing bathroom floors on my hands and knees making sure to get in all the corners and cracks
• Dusting: the pictures/shelves on the walls, light fixtures, tops of bookshelves etc.
• Cleaning blinds/windows
• Ironing pillowcases
• Sweeping along the edges of the walls and in corners with my sweepers attachments

Nothing says "I'm glad your here and I've prepared for you" like a sparking clean room/bathroom.

 I'll be back later this week to share some of the new appetizer type recipes I used for after church snacks.

Overalls

 Here's a baby boy card I made for a shower recently.

Inside and Back

You can find the free template for this card here.

BTW - I've been VERY busy lately and not had a lot of time to post -- Hopefully I'll be back in a week or so!

Tutti Frutti Cups

Life has been crazy busy of late -- not sure when it will slow down!

Thought I'd share a refreshing frozen dessert for this summer!

Tutti - Frutti Cups

2 cans (11 oz each) mandarin oranges, undrained

1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple, undrained

5 medium bananas, sliced

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries - sliced

1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 can (12 oz) lemon lime soda

1 cup water

3/4 cup lemonade concentrate

1/2 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients. 

Fill 8-oz plastic cups 3/4 full; cover and freeze for 4 hours

Remove from freezer at least 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 20 servings

This post linked to:

Our Sheltering Tree

Kitchen Re-do

For "doilies" I copied an idea from my niece -- torn fabric scraps.

There's a little one under the primitive gathering container.

 ....one under my pitcher and...

...one under my lamp.

One of my friends put my Christmas gift in a plain kraft hatbox because she knew I'd enjoy decorating it.

I finally decided what I wanted to do with it -- I covered the sides in red gingham wrapping paper and printed a graphic from Primsy Doodle for the top!

Kitchen Re-do -- Menu Board

Remember the menu board I bought almost 3 years ago?

It's been decorated several different ways -- fall version -- rooster version.

Now it's Primitive!!!

This was an easy makeover using primitive graphics from Digi Web Studio and...

 ...a piece of gingham wrapping paper on the rolling pin!

 It sits beside my big pickle jar turned lamp!