Peeps S'mores Dip

I hope you had a happy Easter yesterday.  I went to my friends for Easter dinner.  I made the Peeps Skillet S'mores but in a different way.  Instead of the skillet, I put the 'dip' in a foil pan (for easy clean-up).  I also had all the rainbow peep colors pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple peeps.

All you need is peeps, chocolate chips and heavy cream.  Heat up the heavy cream and add to your chocolate chips.  Cover chips with peeps and broil on 450 degrees for 8 minutes.

It was awesome!!!  Everyone loved it.  The dip smelled like camp and tasted like s'mores.  It’s good for a crowd of friends and family.

Use other peeps to dip in or wafers, graham crackers, pretzels etc.

2016 Garden Update #3

First some garden humor for you just because..... :)

Alright, now it's time for a garden update.  So many things to talk about.  :)  

Here's what my greenhouse looks like as I type this.  Lovely isn't?

I cleaned up all my containers real good.  These are the ones I love.  I have stacked nice and neat in my greenhouse so I can grab what I need while I'm potting.

The older faded, and cracked containers are stacked outside my shed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.  The smaller ones I might use for starting plants but the bigger ones I might put in yard sale pile.  

I made a quick trip to Lowes yesterday morning.  I bought 2 orange bell pepper starters, an original Bonnie Tomato starter, a Roma tomato starter and a purple petunia plant.  All the green bell peppers were sold.  I used a green bell plastic container to hold the plants in while I walked around the gardening area.

I potted the starters as soon as I got home.  The pepper plants kept slouching over because they were too tall.  I used some wooden skewers and some green twine to hold them up.

They look good now.  They aren't slouching.

Up close of pepper plant.

Yesterday, I also managed to get my husband to help me with my shelves I've been wanting to put up.  Yay!!  More room for plant babies.  :)

I planted some more sunflowers, and a hyacinth plant.  I had some random plants from my last birthday and last Christmas that I wanted to get planted.

Here's what my onion sprout looks like now.

Yesterday morning, I was happy to walk in my greenhouse and see my first sprout of the season.  :)

It's a sunflower sprout.  I love growing sunflowers because the are beautiful flowers and not one ever looks the same.

This morning, (Easter) I walked in to give everyone a drink of H2O and I'm excited to say that have some more sprouts.

Another sunflower with the seed shell/casing still attached. (right)  I love it when this happens.  It always happens on my sunflowers.  :)  Yesterday's sprout has opened all the way.  (left)  

You may notice egg shells in some pots......I crushed up some egg shells and sprinkled on my tomato plants.

I helped take the seed shell/casing off the sunflower.

I rinsed the seed shell/casing and I have it drying on the shelf.  Not sure why I like collecting these.

As I watered all my plant babies, I noticed another new sprout.  My first potato sprout of the season.  This is a red potato sprout.  I love garden fresh potatoes.  I can't wait till I have some to eat.

I started a little area that I have been eyeing for a sunflower garden.  I tilled up the dirt real good.

I grabbed my sunflower seeds and threw them in the dirt then covered them up.

I also placed a sign so my husband knows to not bother my sunflower garden.  I hope lots of sunflowers come up.  I can't wait to see this garden progress.  I've never grown anything on purpose by seed in the ground so we will see how this goes.

Here's a cute little flower I found on my way to the greenhouse the other morning.

My phlox in the front flower bed are blooming like crazy.  I love these.  They come back every year.

Chicken update: 

I've submitted my chicken application to my county for approval.  :)  Here's my free hand sketch I had to include in the application.  *Fingers crossed*

And I'm gonna leave you today with a little chicken humor....  :)

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

My BFF, Kristen has made Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding plenty of times for gatherings.  It's that good and everyone loves it.  :)

I made it for Easter dinner with the in-laws.  There wasn't much left by the time everyone got a helping.  My father-in-law asked to keep the last little bit so I put it in some tupperware for him.  :)

The recipe says to use a 13x9 pan but I thought it would look great in a trifle dish.  I asked my bestie if she thought that would be good and she said YES!  So, I went with the trifle and it worked perfectly.

I had some cookies left over so I crushed them up real good and sprinkled on top.

And I kept 5 cookies to place on top.  :)

To make you will need:

-2 bags of pepperidge farms chessmen cookies

-6 to 8 bananas (I used 8....sliced)

-2 cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

-1 5oz box of french vanilla pudding (could only find regular vanilla 5.1 oz box so that's what I used)

-1 8oz pkg cream cheese (less fat)

-1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

-1 12 oz container of  cool whip (I used lite)

In a bowl combine the milk and the pudding mix until blended.  In another bowl mix the cream cheese and condensed milk.  Fold whipped topping into cream cheese mix.  Then mix in the cream cheese mix to the pudding mix.  Put in fridge to thicken up a bit while you open cookies and cut bananas.  Then layer your cookies and bananas in your dish.  Pour some of mix on cookie/banana layer and keep layering until you use up cookies, bananas and pudding mix.  :)  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Since I used almond milk in place of the milk I did tell everyone that it was made with almond milk just in case anyone had an almond allergy.  I also said "you will not notice the difference" and you don't.  This tastes good and is the perfect dessert after dinner.  :)

MY secret neighborhood pond

I walked over to the pond today to just take in some nature.  This is going to be my new favorite spot for a while I think.  I wished we'd discovered it sooner.  It's that awesome.  I love it.

Here's the trail walking down to the pond.  I might bring a trash bag next time I'm there.  Some jerks like to leave some beer cans behind.  Why do people do that?  If you are going to go enjoy the area at least clean up after yourself.

It's so inviting....

I can't wait to come visit here in the summer.

Lots of Canadian geese swimming around.  They seemed very content and didn't care that I was there.

Huge beaver dam...it's very cool.

Wild flowers

I walked back up to road and then found another trail to the other side of pond.

I walked down it.   I hesitated at first but saw the path and thought let's do it. :)

Selfie

The water is very shallow in this marsh area of the pond.

Bird flying....Do you see it?

Some cattails.

How cool right?

I walked back up hill and then headed for home.

I love this spot.  Next time, I'm bringing the good camera to get some awesome shots.  :)

Fun day off

Today I was off from work to do whatever I wanted to do. :)

This morning, I watered my seedlings and checked for sprouts. Nothing yet.

I met some old friends (Toni and Trish) for lunch.  I got the BLT and this thing was huge.  I ended up only eating half.  (I actually gave the other half to my dad when he came over to help me with my tree branches.  He loved it.)

Anyways, after lunch I went to Tractor Supply.  This is probably going to be my new favorite store.  haha  I saw these boots and fell in love with them.  If I do get chickens these boots will have to be mine.  I just hope the price comes down.  They are $30.  LOL  I'm cheap!

I also found the chicken coop I want.  It was on display.  How adorable?

I looked around at all the chicken stuff just to get an idea on what stuff looked like.  I was hoping there would be baby chicks to look at but all the bins were empty.  It's probably just a weekend thing.

I went home and had my dad come over.

I then went to MY secret neighborhood pond for some a stress free and peaceful walk just taking in nature.  I'm so glad we discovered this place.  I asked my dad to come look but he wanted to get home for a nap.  LOL

When I got back to my house, I took a picture of my daffodils.  These are really tiny.  My Aunt Karen planted these a few years ago.  :)   They come back every Spring.  

So pretty!

I did meal prep since I put it off over the weekend.

I made brown rice, washed and cut broccoli, and strawberries, I made some hard boiled eggs with my last farm fresh eggs, and I also made some peanut butter, oatmeal and chia balls.

Here's my last farm fresh eggs and all the eggs left in the house.  :(  (See...if I had chickens I wouldn't be out of eggs).

I like to use washi tape and label my containers so I don't have to open each one to see what's in it.  Plus I put the date so I know when I prepped it so I use it up before it goes bad.

My husband had a crazy day at work so I decided to whip up a little treat for after dinner.  I made Cookie Dough Dip with mini M&M's

So good.  :)

We dipped some animal crackers in the dip.  It was yummy and put a huge smile on my husbands face.  :)