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I wanted to sneak in one more St. Patrick’s Day post before tomorrow.

I keep telling myself I had plenty of time, but before I knew it, it was the day before!  So here I am, typing a way!

My hubby and I are huge coffee fans!  I mean I literally cannot function before I have had my two morning cups.

So, I wanted to create a drink that was fun and festive, but also something we would drink more than on one occasion.  I decided to create a Shamrock Expresso.

My Shamrock Expresso is super simply, yet so delish.

It’s sweet and highly caffeinated which is always a must at the top of the list!

But most important, it only takes two ingredients!

What you need:

• Very Strong or Bold Coffee
• Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

What you do:

• Brew your mug of coffee
• Add a scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream on top
• Enjoy

See, I told you it was SUPER easy!

It has a wonderful minty taste, and the chocolate mixed with the coffee gives the perfect mocha flavor.

This will be a big hit at a St. Patty’s Day dinner or get together.

Don’t forget to serve in some really cute glasses or mugs to create the more lavish look!

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Can you believe that St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner.

St. Patty’s is one of my favorite holidays, mostly because of the fun that surrounds it.

I mean come on, how many days you get to walk around saying, “Top of the morning to you laddy!”.

My hubby finds it ever so amusing to see just how long it takes to annoy his co-workers in his Irish Accent!  Sometimes I wish I was a fly on the wall just to see the reaction out of everyone!

I wanted to create fun activities for little ones, no I don’t mean Leprechauns, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  Perfect for a day at home celebrating, or for classroom fun! (Geared toward PreK-1st) -FREE- St. Patrick’s Day Play and Learn Printable Pack

In the pack you will find the following fun activities:

• Memory Game
• Counting Practice
• Matching Practice
• Coloring Sheets
• Fun with Dots

What you will need to have on hand:

• Crayons or Markers
• Scissors
• Cardstock and Laminate (if you prefer longer lasting durability)
• A Printer
• Paper

To Download click -FREE- St. Patrick’s Day Play and Learn Printable Pack.

I hope you enjoy and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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In honor of”Mardi Gras”, I  decided to celebrate by having a few friends over for dinner.

Since I was preparing a pretty large meal, I wanted to keep dessert on the easy side.  In my “Birthday Party on a Budget” Post, I talked about how much I love making Cake Pops.  They are fun and easy to create, just the recipe I needed for dinner.

I decided to use a box cake mix and frosting since I was wanting to spend as little time as possible on the dessert.

Add a little green food food coloring to the white chocolate, sprinkle with gold sugar sprinkles and voila…..We have Mardi Gras Cake Pops!

Hope you enjoyed your Fat Tuesday and these fun and festive Cake Pops!!

What you need:

1 Box Cake Mix

1 Container of Frosting (13-15 ounce)

1 Package of White Chocolate Bark

Gold Sugar Crystal Sprinkles

Green Food Coloring

What you do:

1) Bake your cake according to directions.

2) Let cake cool completely.

3) After cooled, tear cake up into pieces and place in large bowl.

4) Mix your frosting into cake pieces. (Hands work the best!)

5) Roll your cake into balls (I prefer golf ball size) and stick cake pop sticks in each one.

6) Place cake balls on a parchment paper lined pan and place in freezer for appx 45 minutes-1 hour.

7) After cake balls are frozen, melt your chocolate bark in microwave stirring as you go.

8) Mix in 4-5 drops of green food coloring.

9) Dip cake balls into chocolate bark, covering completely.

10) Gently tap excess chocolate off on side of bowl.

11) Place back on parchment paper and sprinkle with sugar crystals..

12) Continue until finished and return to freezer for appx 15-30 minutes.

13) Enjoy!

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Need a last minute Fun and Frugal Valentine Gift?

Valentine’s Day is so hard for me because there is only so many balloons and boxes of candy you can give and receive.

Since I am a canner, I always have an endless supply of Mason Jars on hand so I thought it would be fun to do a gift in a jar.

I still wanted to incorporate candy of some sort into the gift so I decided on S’more’s in a jar.

It’s a fun, easy  and frugal gift idea.  Since I wanted it to be a Valentine Theme I decided to use heart shaped marshmellos and Valentine wrapped candy.

Of course I couldn’t just use regular graham crackers, I had to use chocolate graham crackers to go with the strawberry marshmellos and chocolate bars!

I created Valentine Tags for labels and Voila, a perfect Valentine Gift that fits everyone!

Click the download link below for my *FREE* Valentine Tags.

S’More Valentine Printable Tags

Enjoy and Happy Valentine’s Day!

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I am a Cupcake Queen!

Baking and decorating cupcakes is one of my most favorite stress relievers.

I know, I know, your probably thinking, WHAT? But I enjoy creating and trying new things.

I actually run a Cupcake Business out of my home called “Crazy About Cupcakes”, which helps support my love for Guatemala Missions.

So I am always eager to try new creations but I think my Raspberry & Vanilla Cupcakes are perfect for Valentine’s Day.

The Raspberry & Vanilla flavor is just enticing enough to draw you back for more, without knocking you into a sugar coma (:

But what’s more important than the flavor, is knowing how to create perfectly even baked cupcakes.  After lots of trial and error, I think I have almost perfected my recipe.  Hope you enjoy a little sweetness for Valentine’s Day!

Raspberry & Vanilla Valentine Cupcakes

Yields 12-14 cupcakes

What you need:

No Fade Cupcake Liners (you will thank me later)

Muffin Pan

1 1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

1/2 tsp of Baking Soda

1/4 tsp of Salt

1/2 cup of Oil (coconut oil works fine)or Margarine

2 Eggs

1 cup of Sugar

1/2 Milk

2 tsp of Vanilla Extract or Paste

2 tsp of Raspberry Extract

Icing:

1 cup of Real Butter

3-4 cups of Powdered Sugar

1 tbsp of Milk or Heavy Whipping Cream

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Raspberry Extract

What to do:

1) Preheat Oven to 350 F.

2) In a medium size bowl, Whisk Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Salt together and set aside.

3) In a large bowl, Mix on low, Sugar, Butter and Sugar until creamed together.

4) Add in Vanilla and Raspberry and stir.

5) Slowly add dry ingredients and milk into large bowl of wet ingredients and continue mixing on low.

6) Add liners to muffin pan and pour 1/4 cup of batter (will be on the thin side) to each liner.

7) Bake on 350 for 15 minutes.

8) Remove from oven and let cool completely before Frosting.

Icing:

1) Whip butter with the mixer until completely smooth. (make sure butter is soft before mixing)

2) Add in 1 cup of powered sugar and 1 tbsp of milk or heavy cream, at a time to butter and whip together.

3) Continue adding the sugar and cream and whipping until all powered sugar has been added to butter.

4) Add in your Vanilla and Raspberry

5)If your frosting is to dry add another tbsp of cream. If frosting is too thin add another 1/2 cup of powered sugar until you get the consistency you desire.

6) Decorate the cupcakes by icing from a piping bag, or spreading across the top.  Whichever is easiest for you.

7) Add fondant hearts or candies if you desire.

*Please note I do not add food coloring or dyes unless necessary.  If you desire colored frosting, I recommend using fresh raspberries mashed up and added to icing mixture.

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Photo Credit

Here it is again.

The end of one year, and the beginning of the next.

For some of us, we have been counting down the minutes til this year ended.  Maybe it wasn’t our best.  Maybe we had medical problems, financial problems or relationship problems.

For others, they don’t want to see it end.  They have had the best year in their career, success, marriage or just life in general.

I often think about these two groups of people.  I wonder if people from both groups had made New Year Resolutions or if one group of people did.  I don’t think that New Year Resolutions are bad, I just often wonder if we are setting ourself up for failure.

But really, what is a resolution?

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something.

See I feel that as a new year rolls around, we start thinking about how we or things in our life aren’t good enough.  We start putting expections on ourselves for the New Year with the ways we could be slimmer, buffer, richer, prettier, and more successful.  In reality only 8% of the population who make a New Year Resolution actually achieve it.

That’s not a very good success rate.  I know that when we set our minds to something, we can fulfill it, but why does it have to be just because that’s what everyone else is doing.  Why can we not have that mindset all year long, not just at New Years.  Why can’t we just decide at at any given time to stop smoking,  go to church more, buy less?  Do we really have to be part of the status quo to want to better our life?

And no, I’m not talking about a life filled with more success, more money or more power.  I’m not talking about a life filled with wanting to look better, more fit, more beautiful than last year.

I’m talking about a life filled with more joy, more love and more blessings.  A life filled with less stress, less stuff and less wants.

So instead of a New Year’s Resolution, I have made a commitment to myself for the New Year.

YES, I said commitment, not resolution.  I believe that when we make a commitment to ourself, we feel more obligated to follow through.  We feel a sense of accomplishment in our life.

A commitment is the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.

A commitment isn’t just something we do because that’s what’s excepted or the norm.

A commitment is being dedicated to make a difference or to be different.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in the group with the norm.  God didn’t create us to be ordinary; He created us to be extraordinary.  To stand out.  To be leaders, not followers.  To take risks.  To jump when he says jump.  Not sit in the boat and wait for the storm to pass.

My commitment for myself in 2015 is simply this: To be better than I was yesterday.

You might say, “That’s all?”.

Yes, that’s all.

I want to be be a better wife, a better mother, a better homeschool parent, a better friend, a better daughter, a better sister, a better aunt and a better child of Christ than I was yesterday.

I want to give more and receive less.

I want to smile more and cry less.

I want to laugh more and stress less.

In a nutshell, I am making a commitment to live the blessed life that God has created for me to have.  I want to follow him more and leave my wants behinds.  I want to live simplier and not drown in  the ways of the world.

So I ask you right now, Are you setting yourself up for failure?

Or are you willing to make a commitment to you and God to be better than you were yesterday?

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I love traditions.

I’m the person who loves to recreate the memories year after year.  Some love to mix it up, but to me traditions are like coming home.

Every since I was a little girl, we have always had the same Christmas Traditions as a family.   We started with snacks and opening presents on Christmas Eve Night and Christmas Lunch together, followed by the afternoon of playing games, watching ball games and just being together.

After my sisters and I got married and started having families of our own it got harder to continue that tradition.  There is always another dinner to go, or another family tradition to uphold but we did our best to maintain ours thru the years.  But after my momma died eleven years ago, my sisters and I made a silent agreement to continue on that tradition.

Silent you say.  How can you have a silent agreement?

Well, it was never spoken out loud but it was a given to us all that as long as our daddy was alive we would continue our family tradition that him and our momma started so many years ago.  But one thing that I long for is to have Christmas Dinners at my house with William and the kids.  Using real plates, real glasses and real linens.

Of course, I don’t need to use Christmas as an excuse to have a nice family dinner, but it seems that sometimes its pointless unless it’s a special occasion.

For being a Petit Jean Meats Blogger, I received an amazing Spiral Ham as a Christmas Gift.

Since we had the ham, I decided to have an impromptu Christmas Dinner for just us.

I set out my fancy Christmas Dishes, wine goblets, water glasses, and linen napkins.  Oh yes I did!

Added a little cedar to the middle with mason jars filled with cranberries and tealights and we were set to go.

Since we will be having Christmas dinner with our families in a few days, I decided to not go overboard so I stuck with a small, simple menu of Sweet and Spicy Glazed Ham, mashed potatoes, corn and rolls.

I wanted to share my Sweet and Spicy Glaze with you.  I love trying new recipes but sometimes I like to stick with “Traditional” so I went with my simple glaze.

What you need:

1 cup and 1 tbsp Brown Sugar

15 oz can of sliced or diced pineapple

2 tbsp of spicy brown mustard

1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

What you do:

1) In a bowl mix 1 cup of brown sugar and pineapple juice together

2) Add in cayenne pepper and spicy mustard and whisk

3) Poor glaze over ham and add pineapple on top

4) Sprinkle 1 tbsp brown sugar on top of pineapples

5) Bake for 30-45 mins until glaze is bubbly and brown sugar has crystalized on top

Very easy but very good.  Almost a Hawaiian style glaze!

After our impromptu Christmas Dinner, I decided to make it a regular tradition.  Every year I plan to have a simple dinner with just us and maybe add a gift giving to it.

Do you have family Christmas Traditions?

I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The post Sweet and Spicy Glazed Ham with an Impromptu Christmas Dinner appeared first on GraceandGravy with a side of life!.

I love Christmas.  I love celebrating the Reason of the Christmas Season, The Birth of Christ. So when I do my Christmas decorating, I like to keep the simplicity of the season.  Which fits perfectly with my early farmhouse/primitive decor.

One of my favorite pieces to make for Christmas is wreaths using real cedar and pine.  I find that using raw and natural materials make the prettiest and cheapest decor.

These wreaths are so simple to make! I start with a plain grapevine wreath, which I use again every year and some additional holidays, pine and cedar that I have cut fresh, along with burlap, pinecones that I find in the woods, ribbon and a few items I have on hand.

For my first wreath, I used pine. Really look for the pine that has pinecones attached.  Makes the wreaths more festive. First I gather up a bunch that lays well together.  I don’t like to be stingy on the greenery but I also don’t want the wreath to be too much.  Simple is better for me.

I use a rubber band to hold the greenery together and then use green floral wire to attach around the grapevine.  After that I used burlap to make a bow, I always have burlap around to decorate with, remember simple is the key.  I used a strip of burlap and ran it through the  loop on the back of the bow and tied around the grapevine where I attached the green floral wire.  I hang this wreath on the wall of my porch in the middle of an old screen door frame.  Perfect and rustic!

So very simple.  Literally a 10 minute project.

For the next wreath, I started out the same but I used cedar.  I love to find the cedar that has the blue berries attached.  Makes it more festive and colorful.

I like how the cedar hangs down more on the wreath.  Again I used a burlap ribbon but this time I found a pair of jingle bells at a Thrift Store for .50c and attached to the greenery with the same floral wire.  I thought it made a perfect addition to the wreath.  A little something extra but keeping the simplicity of the project.

This wreath, I decided to hang on my front door.  I LOVE how this turned out!

For the last wreath, I went with cedar again, but this time I trimmed it shorter and used pieces without the blue berries.  I attached a plaid ribbon of white, green and red I made out of a roll I used on my tree a few years back.

Again it is attached the same way as the others.  I also decided to go with the green and red and used this small metal “Happy Holidays” sign that, again, I found at a local Thrift Shop for .50c.  I attached with the green floral wire.

I placed this wreath on a wooden chair in the front of my house where I have a Country Christmas Table set up.  I think it looks perfect.

Another great thing to add, would be red Holly Berries.  Last year I was able to collect a lot, but this year I haven’t had the time to take the drive to find them.

I also enjoying hanging the wreaths inside for a fresh Christmasy smell.

Again very simple, inexpensive and can be a very last minute decor project.

I hope you have a Very Blessed but Simplicity Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas.

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I am a sucker for holidays.

There really isn’t any holiday that I don’t enjoy or that I don’t like making crafts or food for.

To me, Halloween is such a fun holiday. It’s a day when you can pretend to be anything or anybody you want, even if it’s just for a night!

I usually don’t decorate much for Halloween, mostly for the fact that my Love of Fall takes over (:  My daughter uses the expression that “Fall threw up on our porch” haha!  Sorry I go into Fall Overload!

We used to turn our house into a Haunted House every year for Girl Scouts.  The layout of our house was perfect.  The kids could enter into the living room from the carport which was set up as a grave yard complete with tombstones, bones and black lights, from there they entered the kitchen which half was blocked off but it looked like a bloody massacre had took place.  There was even the world “Help Me”, written in fake blood with knives.  It was awesome.

Then the kids entered the dining room, which was set up as a Haunted Funeral Home.  There was complete darkness except for black lanterns with red light bulbs hanging from in the  corners, halloween candles sitting on shelves and in the window and on the dining room table was a coffin, with my son inside dressed up as dracula, and as the kids walked by he was raise up and shine a flashlight on his face and scare them.

Then you started down the hallway to the bedrooms.  In the first bedroom, we had someone jump out as Michael Myers complete with mask and knife, next was the bathroom which was was decorated as another crime scene, then the next bedroom which two of our friends were in dressed up as the ChainSaw Massacre.  One had a real chainsaw and the other had a spray bottle of water so as the kids walked by he would turn the chainsaw on and the other would spray water on them to make them think it was blood.

Then it ended with my bedroom which lead out back, so we had someone in my room to jump out and scare them as they tried to get out the back door!

It was awesome!  A lot of work, A lot of clean up, but so worth it.  We would end the night outside playing Fear Factor, Bobbing for Apples and having a Weenie and S’mores around the Fire Pit!

I think I’m to old for all that work now. LOL

But to satisfy my kiddos, I normally do a small few things in the house for Halloween still.  That includes a few decorations and of course a few yummy treats, but no haunted houses or chain saws!

I have to admit, I do love my black and orange glitter grapevine pumpkins!

Not too much, but just enough in my book!

But one of my favorites I have always enjoyed is making fun Halloween foods.

I wanted to share this adorable cupcake idea with you! I made these and my kids went crazy!!

Here is what you need:

2 cups sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks real butter (1 cup)
1 cup water
1/4 cup of Hershey Syrup or 4 tbs of cocoa ( whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 milk with a tbs of white vinegar mixed in)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla ( I prefer 1/2 tsp vanilla paste)

Directions:
Mix and bring the butter cocoa and water to a boil
Pour mixture over sugar and flour
Beat well
Add the remaining ingredients and mix well
Fill cupcake pans almost 3/4 way full
Bake at 350 for 15-20

I love this super easy icing. I can eat a bowl by its self!

1 container of marshmello cream 6-8 oz
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla (I prefer 1/2 paste)

Beat softened butter and powdered sugar until fluffy (no lumps)
Add in marshmello cream and vanilla
Mix together by hand

To make the ghosts I simply add frosting in piping bag and swirl up on cupcakes. For the eyes I use sugar eyes found in your baking aisle.

I hope you enjoy these ghostly treats and Happy Halloween!

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