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What is it about St. Patrick's Day that makes everyone want to celebrate it even if you aren't Irish? After doing our DNA tests my kids found out that they do have some Irish heritage through my husband's line, but not mine. We don't drink beer, which seems like a traditional way of celebrating the day. But still, if you look through our posts over the last few years, there is usually something about St. Patrick's Day every year! Maybe it is the beautiful Irish accent or the idea of pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. Whatever it is, for today's Friday Faves, we are honoring St. Patrick's Day once again.
Here are the things my family has always looked forward to, and then I will share one new special thing:
We have an entire section about St. Patrick's Day on our blog where we share food, party ideas and printables to help you do little things to mark the day with your children and family! These little Rice Krispies Treats Pots of Gold can be made so that they are vegan if you use vegan marshmallows!
Now, here is the one more special thing that I told you about. For many years now, one thing that is always fun to do for St. Patrick's Day is to go to McDonald's and get a Shamrock Shake. It is a minty green nod to the holiday. I already had mine for this year, and I wondered if there was a way that I could make something similar for my vegan Maddy. Here is what I came up with!
I used Tofutti, a vegan cream cheese, almond milk Reddi Whip, and mint Oreos! They were super easy to make, and they taste so good! The Tofutti was available at Sprouts and I purchased the Reddi Whip and the Oreos at the regular grocery store.
I hope you give this recipe a try, and enjoy your St. Patrick's Day this weekend!
Currently on Panna Cooking: Sautéed Scallops with Asparagus Purée by MICHAEL RUHLMAN
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I am an extreme novice at wood burning, but I really want to get better at it. My DIL, who is much better at it than I am, recently introduced me to a product that is changing my wood burning life. I am still a novice, but now there is literally an entire new dimension to my wood burning because of this product!
The Scorch Marker contains a non-toxic chemical that allows you to write or draw on wood and then use heat to achieve the look of wood burning. In order to apply heat, you need a heat gun like this:
My husband recently bought me a heat gun because I told him that I wanted to try this craft! (Read about it here.) I have been having so much fun trying these new toys out! I have also been combining the Scorch Pen with my original wood burner to get a shading effect and to add depth to the things I do.
Since we have started to put in a small garden, I thought it would be fun to wood burn some cute garden markers to dress it up a little bit. In my novice way, I started out using wood slices which I later learned was not the best choice for a wood burning project because of the darkness of the center of the wood and because of the sap if the wood is pine. I made my first "Basil" marker before my Scorch Pen was delivered.
Then the Scorch Marker was delivered and I tried it on the wood slice again for my tomatoes.
I realized that I needed lighter wood with a finer grain, made of something other than pine, such as ash or basswood. I had some of these lighter wood shapes. I don't know what wood they are but I tried them out with much better results.
Here is how I put the markers together, just click on the photos to see better.
I am enjoying learning something new! Here are some the things I have learned so far:
So, give the Scorch Marker a try and have some fun with it! I feel like the possibilities are endless and I have just begun to scratch the surface! If you've tried it and you have any tips, please let me know in the comments!
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
If you subscribe to our newsletter, you might guess that some of our group here at 3 Winks have had the chance to travel lately! One of those is Alicia and her family who have traveled down to Ecuador to visit with my SIL's family. So, I am happy to get to take over her feature this week of What to Read Wednesday.
The Perfect Birthday Gift:
Another fun fact is that Alicia left on the day of my mother's birthday. My mom just turned 96 years old! She is amazing and one thing that she loves to do is read. That fact has probably greatly contributed to her still being of sound mind at this time of her life. Not only that, she always shared her love of reading with me and my siblings throughout our lives and I am so grateful for that.
Well, one series of books that she absolutely loves is the Mitford Series by Jan Karon. My mom and my sister attended a book club with ladies from church. At Home In MItford, the first volume in the series, was one of their selected books for their club a number or years ago. They both loved the book so much that they sent it to me and I fell in love with it as well. I have since read the nine books in the series, plus the spin off books, for lack of a better word and I just discovered 2 volumes that I haven't read yet! So, guess what I sent to my mother for her 96th birthday? She hadn't heard about or read them either! She was so excited! Let me tell you, it is hard buying gifts for a 96 year old! Last year I sent her a gift card to a restaurant that I thought she would love and then found out that they don't even have that restaurant in my home town! Birthday gift fail! When I found out about Come Rain or Come Shine & To Be Where You Are, I knew I had found her the perfect gift!
Here is What is So Great:
Mitford is a small town in North Carolina and is the fictional creation of the Author, Jan Karon. The people in the town are hard working, God fearing, mostly good people and the main character is an almost 60 year old bachelor Episcopal Priest named Father Tim Kavanagh. The descriptions of the town and how it looks are amazing. There is even a map of the town in the front covers of the books. In the first book, we read as Father Tim is adopted by a giant dog, then he adopts a boy from a troubled home and he meets his future wife! Not only that, we are introduced to wonderful characters like Miss Sadie, Louella, Dooley, Puny, Percy and the lunch crown, Uncle Billy, Miss Rose, and many more. All of these people find themselves in one way or another indebted to Father Tim throughout the books as he selflessly serves them and in the meantime he learns more about himself.
One of the enjoyable things about this series of books is the way Ms. Karon can turn a phrase that keeps you either chuckling or feeling inspired. For example, the aforementioned dog that adopts Father Tim has a long way to go before he wins over the parish secretary. When she first meets him, she says, "That wasn't a dog! That was a _______," and you would expect her to say horse where I left the blank, right? But, no! She says, "That wasn't a dog! That was a Buick!" It was just so unexpected! There are so many similar moments as we listen to Father Tim's thoughts throughout the books. I love how the author gave Father Tim such a charitable heart. In one instance, close to the beginning of the book we learn about this heart. The sweet octogenarian of the town, Miss Sadie visits him at the rectory to tell him of her old housekeeper's plans to visit her. Father Tim offers to bake a ham for her for the occasion. "Why bless your heart,' says Miss Sadie. 'Don't even mention it!' he said, feeling his heart blessed already. " I just loved that, and there are so many more moments that don't come across as preachy but just sweet ways that inspire me to be kinder to my neighbors. Another thing that I love about the Mitford Series is that Father Tim loves to read not only the scriptures, but Blake and Wordsworth as well. There are many wonderful quotes and references throughout all of the books. As a matter of fact, the Buick sized dog responds to commands given in the voice of scripture or eighteenth century poetry. When there are problems in the books that seem almost insurmountable, Father Tim always prays the prayer that never fails, "Philippians four-thirteen, for Pete's sake." (You can look it up in the New Testament yourself.)
There are descriptions of comfort food in the books that so many fans have wanted to know how to make, like the Orange Marmalade Cake, that Jan Karon finally published a cookbook. I have tried many of the recipes and have found them delicious! You can find the book on Amazon here.
So many of the stories in the books are hilarious, (I've read those parts to my husband many times, not being able to keep them to myself), or sweet and poignant, that they can stand alone, outside of the books. So, there has also been published The MItford Bedside Companion that is a compilation of many of those stories that helps you not to have to search through every novel to find a certain moment. It also contains author reflections about the stories.
The interesting thing is that while Mitford can seem idyllic, It actually takes place in the modern world when there are also problems with addiction and abuse and poverty in this little town. But, in these books we read of ways of using love and kindness, perseverance and faith, patience, prayer, long suffering and forgiveness to overcome many of life's trials. These books filled me with hope and compassion. If you haven't read them, I recommend them with all of my heart. They are such a favorite of mine. If you read them, or have read them already, be sure to let me know what you think! And I will let you know how my mom liked the last two volumes, (and how I like them as well).
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
One weekly date that I try to keep as often as possible is going over to my son's house every Tuesday and eating lunch with his two children. One is almost 3 and the other is 6 months old. I started when there was only the oldest and we called it "Lunch with Spencer." Now that I babysit my daughter's baby, Emily, I take her along and it is a nice time for these cousins to connect.
I usually stop at a different take-out restaurant and pick up food for everyone. Since my son works from home, I get lunch for him, my DIL, myself, and the kids. (Well, Emily mostly shares with me and Amelia is too young for that kind of food yet, but you get the idea.) I have started to learn what everyone likes. For example, if I stop at Subway, I know my DIL likes the meatball sub. Recently, I was looking at Jan D'Atri's website. She published a version of a Meatball Sub Casserole that I thought looked delicious and I figured that my DIL would really enjoy it. I tried it out and it was very tasty. DIL did really like it! My only problem was that I like to do my garlic bread slightly differently and I decided to make my own meatballs. I wanted the bread to come out a little crispier the second time I made it. So, I took her awesome recipe and adapted it to my taste and this time, it really hit the spot with ME! I am going to make this version and take it to "Lunch with Spencer" and see how everyone likes it.
Click on the pictures to get a quick overview of what I did:
One warning! There is a lot of stretchy, melty cheese in this casserole that can be kind of deliciously messy! I sure didn't mind that though!
P.S. It is even better if you use good cheese!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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