Simple Homemade Icecream Sandwiches!

     Everyone in my house loves sweets! Especially homemade sweets! Most of the time ice cream can be found in our freezer. I also like to bake, which doesn't help the sweet cravings. My children are always ready to help with the baking! I have always tried to find a good combination for ice cream sandwiches. I know there are a lot of different variations on how to make good ice cream sandwiches and that it all depends on ones preference. I tried cake mix cookies for ice cream sandwiches yesterday. They were sweet and simple.  Perfect for my little helping hands! Perfect for our sweet cravings!  Perfect for ice cream sandwiches!  Here is a recipe that I got from my mother for cake mix cookies.  Kids can make this with little help. This recipe may even be out there somewhere.
Sweet & Simple Baking!

1 box of cake mix
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
2-3 Tbsp water

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cake mix, shortening, egg and water in a medium bowl.  Blend with a mixer on medium speed until the ingredients are completely wet. When you first start to mix it will look dry and powder like.  Keep mixing until it resembles cookie dough.

Roll dough into tablespoon size balls and place on cookie sheet.  Bake for about 9 minutes.  Be careful not to over cook. We want them to be extra soft, not crunchy!

 

They will look puffy, soft and gooey.  Remove from oven, but leave cookies on cookie sheet for 1 more minute before removing to a cooling rack.

After the cookies have cooled completely, put your favorite ice cream in the middle of two of the cookies.   

                                      EAT it up! Yum Yum!!
  There are many options when making the cake mix cookies.  You can add chocolate chips, nuts or whatever suits your taste!  *Ice cream sandwiches can be made ahead of time and stored in freezer.  Just remember the cookie may harden and you may want to take them out for a few minutes to soften before eating.

The Perfect Bib Tutorial!

I never used baby bibs because they seemed too small or they were pulled off too easily.  My step mom gave my sister a bib made from a dish towel and I LOVED it. It was big for good coverage, tied around the neck and had armholes. This bib was more like a smock.  Perfect to use when eating, cooking, art or any activity where clothes needed extra protection. So I decided to make some for my kiddos.  I use them ALL the time!  They fit my 1 year old up to my 7 year old.  I added this short tutorial so you can make one or two! 

1. Choose a dish towel. New or used will do. Get extra wide, double fold, 1/2 inch bias tape to match the dish towel.

 2.Using a piece of paper make a pattern for the neck hole. It is approx  4 1/2 to 5 in x 2 3/4 in. It should be an oval. 
3. Fold your dish towel almost  in half. (depends on how long you need the bib) The shorter side is the back and the long side is the front.

 4. Center neck pattern on the fold and pin it in place.

 5. Find the center on the bottom of the back. Cut up the center of back until you reach the neck and cut around the pattern piece.

 6. Cut 2 pieces of bias tape to fit the center back raw edges.

  7. Next open bias tape and pin. Sew bias tape on edges. Sew straight stitch 1/4 inch from edge.  Fold the tape over and sew a top zigzag stitch.   1/4 inch from edge.  Remember to back stitch for strength. When you get to the bottom edge zigzag back and forth a couple times to prevent fraying.

 

 8. Cut bias tape to fit around the neck.  Be sure to leave the ends long enough to make the ties for around the neck.  I like my ends to be about 9 - 9 1/2 inches long.  Open the tape, pin in place and sew a straight stitch 1/4 inch from edge.  Fold the tape over.  Then sew 1/4 inch from edge starting on the end of one of the ties. Sew up the tie (don't forget to back stitch)   and then around the neck, back down the other tie. Back stitch when at the end.  In the picture I went from a straight stitch on the tie to zigzag stitch around the neck and then back to a straight stitch.  I back stitched with the zigzag before going into the straight stitch.  If wanted you could do a zigzag stitch around the neck and the ties.                                                  

 9. To make the arm holes sew the back to the front down on the bottom corners.  Sew with a straight stitch, about 2 inches long 1/4 inch from edge. Don't forget to back stitch. Depending on how big you want the arm holes you may want to stitch longer or even shorter.                                                                                                                                                                        

 There you have it!  Very simple!  Just right for the beginner! 

These make great gifts!

Outside the snow is calm and quiet...

   ...but inside we are LOUD and busy!  This afternoon the kids and I enjoyed our own hot cup of chocolate and had Tim Tam Slams!  Rich, delicious and just right!  The cocoa helped us calm down and feel warm and cozy. Then we experienced the warm rich chocolate melting when we combined our hot cocoa with the Tim Tams! OH YEAH!  I'm in LOVE with Tim Tam Slams! I first came to know of Tim Tam Slams on my mission.  I served a mission on Temple Square in Salt Lake City Utah.  I met many people from all over the world.  I had a mission companion from Australia that introduced me to the Tim Tam Slam. I only experienced this delicious chocolate treat once, but always remembered the taste!  For years I couldn't find them anywhere! Then finally I found those chocolate wafers!!  Yippy!! PepperRidge Farm places Tim Tams in stores between October and April.  What a YUMMY treat! 

     To experience this delicious Tim Tam Slam, you take the Tim Tam cookie and bite one of the corners.  Then bite the other side, but opposite corner. Take the Tim Tam and use it as a straw to suck up the hot chocolate. (You may not want your cocoa to be too hot.) When you are able to drink cocoa through your Tim Tam, quickly put it in your mouth before you loose it and it drops into the hot chocolate.  

Enjoy the warm, rich, melting chocolate!

CREATE

          As I was trying to get my creative juices flowing, I pondered the word CREATE...
We were all created by a loving Father in Heaven.  He wanted us to become like him and so he gave us the ability, the power to create.  What does it mean to create? The dictionary on my bookshelf states: 1 to cause to come into existence; make; originate 2 to bring about; give rise to; cause. With this definition, to create is more than just art. What a magnificent gift this can be in our lives. What are we choosing to create?  We can't always control the circumstances that are created, but we can choose to create the attitude in which to face hard trials. We have the power to create joy, quality time, attributes, crafts, life, feelings, talents, attitudes, etc.   There are many things we can create with this power we've been given.  It is our choice. I feel it a privilege and a responsibility.  When we exercise our agency to create good things, we learn and become more like our Father in Heaven.  We draw closer to God and can feel and see him more in our lives. Here is a short message about the ability to CREATE!  I found it very inspiring!  Enjoy!