Graduation Caps and Jello Pinwheel Flowers

I know many graduations are already over, but maybe not all, so I thought I would share the graduation cap ideas two of my granddaughters and one of their friends help me put together. There were lots of great comments at the open house and I will definitely make them again. 

        

Photo Credit: Taste of Home 

I got the idea here from Taste of Home website....


CANDY GRADUATION CAPS

24 miniature peanut butter cups
1 tube (6 ounces) decorating frosting in color of your choice
24 After Eight thin mints
(I couldn't find them so I used Ghiradelli choco squares, individually wrapped)
24 milk chocolate M&M's in color of your choice or 24 semisweet chocolate chips

Remove paper liners from peanut butter cups; place upside down on waxed paper. Place a small amount of frosting on each peanut butter cup; center a mint on each. Using frosting, make a loop for each cap's tassel. Place an M & M on top of each.

Yield: 2 dozen. 

I also made jello pinwheel flowers using the school colors of the gal graduating.  She was very pleased. 

I had a good laugh because more often than not, folks think they're too pretty to eat and they are left untouched.  Not this time - they were gone fast. I was glad too. 

They're much easier than they look.  You dissolve a pkg. of jello in a little bit of water...melt marshmallows in it.  When it sets, the layers separate...cut into strips and roll up into flowers.  The green jello I did free hand....for specific directions and measurements, check out my post here.

BEST WISHES TO ALL THOSE GRADUATING THIS YEAR! 

Linked to Scrumptious Sunday

"Lightened" Strawberry Pizza & Weekend Potluck #21

WELCOME TO WEEKEND POTLUCK!

AND...

Where I RE-post something from my archives...


In my humble opinion, fresh summer strawberries can't be beat! Add cream cheese, and a crunchy nutty crust and you've got a real winner!

I cut back on the amount of butter in the crust, used 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese and sugar-free strawberry glaze.  This dessert is out-of-this-world wonderful! 

' LIGHTENED UP' STRAWBERRY PIZZA

1-1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 c. cold butter, cut into chunks

(I use 1 - 2 Tb. less)

1/2 c. brown sugar

(I use 1/3 c.)

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1 - 8 oz. (1/3 reduced fat) cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. powdered sugar

(I use half splenda or xylitol)

1 - 8 oz. tub (lite) Cool Whip, thawed

4 c. cleaned, sliced fresh strawberries

1 - 16 oz. pkg. (sugar free) strawberry glaze

Preheat oven to 350. In lg. bowl, combine flour, butter, brown sugar and nuts. Spread on 14" pizza pan or 10" X 15" X 1" cookie sheet.

Bake 12 - 15 minutes until browned. Cool.

In medium bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping and spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set up.

In large bowl, combine fresh strawberries and glaze until coated. Spread out over cream cheese filling, then top with dollops of Cool Whip to serve. Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Enjoy every tasty bite!!!!

Onto the Party....we are so glad you came by and we can't wait to see all the goodies you link up this week. 

This week, we have made a few changes to Weekend Potluck. The most important change? We've added an amazing new cohost... Holly from Life As a Lofthouse.

I know that you are just as happy to have Holly on our team as we are and will bring only your BEST recipes to her welcome party. {wink, wink}

Psst... Bloggers, for the other changes, please read the linky guidelines. Thanks!

Before we celebrate with our new co-host, let's take a quick peek back at last week...

The recipe with the most clicks was ~

Cherries Jubilee by Everyday Mom's Meals

Recipes that caught our attention ~

Peanut Butter Nutella Cake by A'Lil Country Sugar

Caprese Chicken by Lisa's Dinnertime Dish

And, a personal favorite ~

Strawberry Malted Ice Cream by Lemons for Lulu 

If you were featured today, please feel free to grab the red “featured” button below.

Your hosts ~

• 4 Little Fergusons~ Tonya
• The Country Cook~ Brandie
• Meet Penny ~ Tabitha
• The Better Baker ~ Marsha
• Sunflower Supper Club ~ Kim & Julie
• Life As a Lofthouse ~ Holly

Remember that when you link up, it shows on all SIX blogs. Plus…

We TWEET. We PIN. We LIKE.

Linky Guidelines:

If you wish to be a featured recipe or for us to promote your recipe either on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, you MUST follow these instructions.

1. Please link up to your exact post and not the main page to your blog.
2. LINK BACK HERE from your post so that others can find the fun. (Need help linking back? Read this or watch this great instructional video.) You can use the button below or a direct link within your post.

When you are kind enough to follow our guidelines, we work hard to get you as much exposure as possible so that your time here is well invested. We want this to be a fun and rewarding experience for everyone!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Since I'm a cookie Monster, I love trying new cookie recipes.  This one bit ME and I'm so glad I tried it.  

Thanks to Holly at Life as a Lofthouse for sharing another one her fabulous recipes.  If you've not visited her before, please please please stop by and check out her awesome blog. And don't forget to tell her I sent you over.  I love her style of cooking/baking!


Quick. Simple. Delicious!


I buy cake mixes when they are on sale but almost NEVER bake a cake with them. I love using them to make other things, like this easy and yummy treat. Not everyone has time to make things from scratch so I am always happy when I can whip a mix out of my pantry and bake up something up with less mess and ease.


As you can see by the 'sticker' I added to the photo...I think these cookies are MUAH! good! 

HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES 

1 (18 oz) box Devils Food Cake mix 

2 eggs

1/2 c. Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients; it will form a thick dough. Roll dough into 2 inch balls and place onto an un-greased cookie sheet. (If you think it's too sticky, just refrigerate for about 30 minutes).  Gently press down on dough to flatten slightly. Bake for 8-9 minutes. (They won't seem done, but they are!)  Remove from oven and let completely cool on the cookie sheet.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING 

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened

2 Tb. Butter, softened

1/2 Tsp. Vanilla 

2 c. Powdered Sugar

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla with a hand mixer until well mixed. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. 

Frost one oreo with desired amount of filling, top with a second cookie.

Store cookies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Linked to Thursday's Treasures

           Creative Thursday

           It's a Piece O'Cake

            Scrumptious Sunday

                 Whatcha Whipped up Wednesday

Sour Cream Rhubarb Pie

Do you ever want to try something different than the usual/every day recipe you always make?

Maybe one that's been in your family for a while, and everyone loves it, but you want a change anyway?  

I do that often (cause I LOOOOVE trying new recipes!)...and that's what happened with this recipe.

I have a wonderfully easy & delicious rhubarb cream pie recipe in my cookbook and I've made it for years.

But this time I wanted a change, so I googled it and found something yummy sounding at allrecipes.com.   I made a few additions to the topping. 

This not only had a yummy crumb topping, (similar to what my mama use to put on her dutch apple pies!) it also had sour cream in the pie itself, so I tried it and was I ever glad I did!!!!

It's definitely a KEEPER!

SOUR CREAM RHUBARB PIE 

• 1 cup sugar
• (I used half xylitol)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup sour cream 
• (I used lite)
• 1 egg
• 3 cups chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell
• 
  
• TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel. optional
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 
• 1/3 cup cold butter or margarine 
• 1/3 c. chopped nuts 
• 
  
• In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat in the sour cream and egg. Gently fold in the rhubarb. Pour into pastry shell.
• 
  
• Topping: In small bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, orange peel and cinnamon.. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle over the filling. 
• 
  
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F; bake 35-40 minutes longer or until topping is golden brown. Cool. Refrigerate leftovers.

Linked to Ingredient Spotlight - Sour Cream

Gooseberry Patch Roundup- Picnics & Potlucks

It's A Piece O'Cake

Mop it up Monday

Gooseberry Patch Roundup - Garden
Scrumptious Sunday
Weekend Potluck
Meal Plan Monday

Lemon Fruit Dip {Sugar Free}

ONLY 3 INGREDIENTS!!

It doesn't get much easier than this...in just a few minutes you can be enjoying a tasty treat along with some fresh fruit.

You might even want to try this on pancakes?

You could use regular or sugar-free pudding mix...and you could try chocolate, butterscotch or coconut too?  Many options here...

Use lowfat milk and sour cream too if you desire.

Give it a whisk and a whirl and you are ready to serve.

This makes a great after school snack or dessert after any meal. 

LEMON FRUIT DIP

{sugar free}

1 c. (1%) cold milk

1 (3.4 ozs) pkg. instant lemon pudding mix

(sugar free)

1 c. (8 ozs) (lite) sour cream

In a small bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes.  Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft set.  Whisk in sour cream.  Chill until ready to serve.

Serve with fruit.

Yield: 1=2/3 c.

Using sugar-sweetened pudding mix, regular milk and sour cream:

2 Tb. = 75 calories, 4 gr. fat, 1 gr. protein, 0 gr. fiber

Linked to Ingredient Spotlight - Sour Cream
Weekend Potluck
Fit & Fabulous Friday
Recipe of the Week