Best Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

I'm not sure where I found this recipe.  I'm sure it was online somewhere but my recipe says 'author unknown'...  

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 c Brown Sugar

1/2 c White Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 c Margarine (softened)

1 t Vanilla

1/2 c Peanut Butter (smooth)

1 1/2 c  Flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 C Reese's Pieces

Preheat over to 350 degrees - line baking pan with parchment paper.

In large bowl mix together until light and fluffy:

Brown Sugar

White Sugar

Margarine

Add in and mix until incorporated:

Egg

Vanilla

Slowly add in

Flour

Baking Soda

Salt

Stir in Reese's Pieces

Scoop onto parchment paper and press down slightly with a fork twice.  Bake 10-12 min. 

These are so good I have to freeze them before the family devours them or else they won't make it till this weekends 'Tween Spa Party'

 Even the batter is good!

Something BIG happened this week! Insta-Friday

What a SUPER week!!

Want to see what we’ve been up to?

*I didn’t get any pics of Andy’s birthday. That whole day was a whirlwind, but he did have a GREAT birthday! I made him the most amazing apple crisp. An Amish recipe. Best ever. I swear.*

Okay, here we go – My week via cell phone pics…

I thought I’d start with this one. (Try to ignore the stylish plaid backdrop..ha!) Eli gets left out of a lot of instafridays…mostly because he doesn’t hold still AT ALL when I try to take his picture & we all know how good phones are at taking actions shots…

Look at him though! He’s so cute & getting SO big! He’s almost 18 months old. That’s insane. He’s my baby!

Big Bro/ Baby Bro

Middle Bro sweeping my room. Such a great helper!

Is it bad that Eli already knows what to do with the TV remote?

Something BIG happened this week!!

No crazies, I’m not pregnant…

WE BOUGHT A VAN!

This story probably deserves it’s own post, but in a nutshell Andy & I feel so humbled that God would provide something so GREAT at a time when we SOOO didn’t think we had enough $$ to buy a van…because we wanted to pay cash for it. We sold our Chevy Uplander in the spring to pay off our school debt & become completely debt free. That meant we’d have to manage with 1 vehicle…a car…all summer long…with 3 car seats & very crammed space…Oh, and no tinted windows. Do you realize how hard it is to tote babies around with sun in their eyes? Umm yes, I was known as Ghetto Blanket-in-the-Window Lady all summer long.  But this is what stepping out in faith looked like for us. We both knew it’s what God was leading us & telling us to. (Dave Ramsey might’ve had a something to do with it too…tehehehe)
        
Can I just say this thing totally blows that Uplander out of the water?! The simple things like ummm TINTED WINDOWS…HelLoooo! And a Thermometer – CD Player – Compass – and Extra Leg Room have me GIDDY! Then, throw in heated seats, power sliding doors, seat memory & I just want to cry! I feel so BLESSED that God would give us this much! I’m so thankful!
Why not just throw a Flooded Backyard Party & let my kids play in it, right?!

 
Super-fun time! It rained A LOT & our backyard flooded for a day. It was really no big deal…Especially since Caleb & Keston got to play in it. They were in heaven. Andy & I heard them talking about it as they were in bed that night. I hope they never forget that day. It was awesome!

I hope your week was super too!

And since I shared a personal part of our financial life, do you want to share something with me? What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever done to save money?

Have a VERY FUN weekend!

I’m linking this post up to Insta-Friday at Life Rearranged. SUCH a great blog! Even if you don’t link up…or blog at all for that matter, I still suggest you wander around over there.

Free Craft Class

SoulBridge Vineyard is hosting a totally FREE Crafting Class October 22nd 2011!!

Van Wert Ohio people - how would you like to attend a totally FREE craft class?  Freckles & Fun and Thrift Store Rock Star along with a couple creative friends are presenting some awesome crafts!  

This class is totally FREE of charge - make sure you RSVP to guarantee a spot.

We're making 4 different crafts, it's all hands on so you'll be making them too!  These 4 crafts are low cost, super easy and lots of fun. It's just in time for holiday gifting!

If you're interested - RSVP by emailing soulbridgevw@aol.com or calling 419-232-3400

Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Cookies

I ran across this blog ' The Diary of Dave's Wife' this weekend and drooled over the cookies on this post.  They looked so good I just had to make them!  I found the caramel bits in our local Wal-Mart below the chocolate chips in the baking isle.

I'm generally not a sweets person so the salty pretzel part of the recipe is what appealed to me.

This is the slightly altered recipe I used:

3/4 c salted butter softened (I would us margarine next time, I'm not a fan of butter in cookies).

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 c white sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla (I use the real deal - I make it myself but that's another post)

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 c milk chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli)

1 c caramel bits

1/2 c crushed pretzels

Preheat oven to 350
 

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg & vanilla. Beat in flour & soda. When all is incorporated, stir in chocolate chips (or chocolate pieces) caramels and pretzels.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets covered in parchment paper. (the parchment is important some of mine had melted caramel on them, with the parchment it comes right off.)
Bake for 10 minutes for a chewy cookie. 

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies. 

I can honestly say these were SO good I had to get them out of the house asap or else I would have ate half of them!  My co-workers enjoyed them as did every member of my household.  They were gone so quick I didn't even get a chance to take a picture!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole –Tasty Tuesday

Yummm-o!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

I Dug up a family favorite for today’s Tasty Tuesday! My Gram has made this for me so many times, I can’t even count. When I was in college she would make it for me, freeze it & send it back to school with me after a weekend visit. But I have to give credit to my Aunt Bren…because I’m pretty sure she’s the one who introduced our family to this goodie. It’s fantastic. AND!!!!!!! You don’t always have to use chicken! This recipe is perfect for leftover Thanksgiving Day TURKEY too!! But of course, you have to change it’s name to Poppy Seed TURKEY Casserole

Ingredients

4-5 Whole Chicken Breasts (cooked, skinned, boned & cut into pieces)

1/2 Cup Cream of Chicken Soup (I make my own…recipe coming soon)

1/2 Cup Cream of Celery Soup

8 oz Sour Cream (1 Cup)

18-20 Crushed Soda Crackers

1/2 Stick Butter, melted

2 Tbsp Poppy Seeds

1. Mix soup & sour cream together. 2. Stir in 1 Tbsp of poppy seeds 3. Add chicken & mix together. 4. Put mixture into a casserole (2qt) dish. 5. Mix melted butter & crushed crackers together. 6. Sprinkle over the chicken mixture & sprinkle remaining 1 Tbsp poppy seeds over the top also. 7. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
 

Good Stuff!

Add this to your freezer recipe stash!

Sharing this recipe, of course! Check out my party page!

T-shirt Flower Headband

Super Simple Craft - T-shirt Flower Headband

What you'll need:
1 Headband

1 Tshirt

Needle & Thread

Scissors

Hot Glue Gun

I folded the t-shirt to create 4 layers of fabric.  Then I used a marker and traced 2 different sized circles a total of 3 times each.  Before I cut out the circles I stuck a straight in through all 4 layers to keep the fabric in place.  Next I cut slits around the circle to create 'petals' in each set of fabric circles.

Then I removed my pins and laid the smaller flower on top of the larger flower.

Now use your needle and thread to sew right in the middle of the flowers.  The tighter you pull the more the flower will bunch up.  You can also randomly stitch the center flower a little further out from the center to create more bunching and dimension in the flower.

Now you're ready to hot glue to the headband.  If you are using a thin headband I recommend using an extra small un-petaled circle to glue to the opposite side of the headband (using the headband in the middle of a flower/circle sandwich with glue).  Since my headband is wide I glued directly to the fabric flower.

Repeat the above steps to add as many flower as you would like on your headband.  I used 3, 1 larger and 2 smaller finished flower.

We think it turned out pretty cute!  Here is a link to the blog post that inspired this headband.  I've also made these necklaces & love them!!

The headband was made from a tie dye necklace - I love how it turned out!

Captain Cloud Saves the Day!!! It’s Insta-Friday Folks!!

 

It was Super-hero day at Caleb’s school & the preschoolers got to participate. After debating all morning about what superhero he wanted to be, Caleb told me 30 minutes before school started that he wanted to be “CAPTAIN CLOUD.” 

What? You’ve NEVER heard of captain cloud? Never ever??!!

I’m not surprised. Neither had I.

So I whipped out my large stash of felt, stitch witchery, iron, scissors & gave it my best shot. The mask was something we had already & it went perfectly.

Caleb: “See ya Mom! I gotta go to school now to fight the bad guys & catch evil crooks.”

Me: “Okay, Captain Cloud. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it!"

Caleb: “Yeah, I might need to eat some cookies for more energy when I get home.”

(true story!)

 

These are the cookies Captain Cloud was referring to. I had made them the day before & they were incredible. If you need a new Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, let me know! I’ll post it ASAP.

 

Nothing like a mid-week homecoming parade to jazz my kids up on sugar!

Our boys & our friends’ two kiddos had a BLAST loading up on candy from the “floats.” 

Some new fabric for a new project

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last here’s some artwork from Captain Cloud. He’s kinda hogging the spotlight this week. That’s okay, he deserves it.

Each week I accumulate a pile of drawings that Caleb makes. It’s awesome but I REALLY don’t know where to put all of them!

These were my 2 favorites from this week.

I hope you’ve enjoyed another Insta-Friday!

Insta-Friday is a review of my week through my cell phone pictures! And once again I’m linking up at Life Rearranged!

I’ve been taking a lot more cell phone pictures lately because I HAVE NO CAMERA!!! My favorite & very reliable camera was ruined when when Eli got ahold of it & had it in our Homemade Splash Pad. Sad, I know. This may affect this blog a great deal until I get a replacement.

Distressing Furniture

Have you tried distressing furniture?  Making it look old or worn after spending time making it look brand new?  Sounds crazy - eh?  But its so much fun!  This is my very first time distressing a piece of furniture. 

We'll call him Blue Bonnet - he came from a garage sale my Mom's neighbor was having.  They told her she could have him for FREE (my favorite).  I really wish I would have caught a before picture but his transformation happened so quickly I forgot to take a pic.  Let me paint the picture of him... His back was black, his seat was white, and his legs were black - he was quite the site...

This color combo made a great distressing project!  Because even though I painted over him with a single color when I distressed him showed his old colors right through!  Check him out!

I used Rustoleum Gloss Blue paint to spray right over the current color scheme.  Then I tore off a finger size piece of sand paper.  I used it to rub over the legs and any or curve or edge.  I didn't run hard just enough to scratch off the blue.  Then use a clear glaze to seal the distressed edges (or you can use spray clear gloss to seal also).

What do you think of the close up?  Fun stuff!! 

 

Ah, Comfort Food - Bacon Cheddar Potato Chowder & Beer Bread

You know that warm and fuzzy feeling you get?  Ah, Comfort Food!

My oldest daughter requests this about once a week.. I think she would eat it every day if she could!

Bacon Cheddar Potato Chowder

6 cups milk

2 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of potato soup

4 cups frozen Southern-style hash browns

2 cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 package Real Bacon Bits

Mix milk and soup in large saucepan. 

Stir in hash browns. 

Bring to boil on high heat, stirring occasionally; simmer on medium-low 10 min., stirring frequently.  

Add bacon bits & cheese - stir until cheese is melted.

 This is perfect with some Crusty Bread (we love beer bread) and you can make it without a mix!

Beer Bread

3 cups flour (sifted - yes you need to sift it) 

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar 

1 (12 ounce) can beer 

1/4 cup melted butter or margarine  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Mix dry ingredients and beer.

Grease Loaf Pan and pour in batter (it may be lumpy)

Pour melted butter over mixture.

Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.

Beer Bread makes a great sandwich the next day too!  I love to fill it with some Farmers Cheese (if you didn't know Farmers Cheese is VERY low in lactose so if you suffer from lactose intolerance it's perfect!) and smoked turkey lunch meat.  I butter the bread & grill it up like a grilled cheese and dip it into some soup - YUMMY!

We have a WINNER!!!

Thanks for all your support & 'likes'!!  

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Donna  from Sweetness, Sunshine and Mischief!!  You're treasure will be in the mail very soon!  Let me know where to mail the box of goodies to - you can private message me on Facebook.

Thanks to Random.org for choosing our random winner!!

Have a great weekend & stay tuned for next weeks posts!

I'm drawing tonight for the Give-a-Way!!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I promised a super awesome GIVE-A-WAY when we hit 50 'likes' on Facebook or Blogger?  

We're there!!! 

 

If you're already liked or follow TSRS you're already entered to win!  I'm drawing a name tonight Friday Sept 16th!!  

Want multiple chances to win?  One entry for each of the following:
1. 'like' Thrift Store Rock Star on Facebook

2. 'follow' this blog on blogger

3. comment on this post for a bonus entry by letting me know what your favorite past post has been or what you would like to see on this blog!

What are you waiting for?  You know you want to win something totally awesome!

Insta-Friday! What a Week

It’s Friday (AT LAST)!!!

So that means it’s time to share my weekly phone pics with you! :)

BOY has it has been a DOOZEY of a week at our house!

It started out GREAT! I took the boys to pick out some candy on Saturday. It wasn’t for any special reason. Not because they had been good or had done something spectacular. It was just because. They were SOOO pumped!

Eli oh Eli…he’s quite the climber. Here’s he’s eager to do my dishes, I guess. Every time I turn around he’s climbing on something or getting into something else. He’s recently learned to scoot these little yellow chairs around to get to what he wants. So Andy put them in the basement for a while.

It obviously doesn’t stop him though….look what happened later that day.

It’s been one mess after another, after another, after another. It’s not just Eli either! My butterfingers spilled a whole bowl of cereal on myself & managed to drop a half-full pitcher of sweet tea all over my kitchen floor.  Tasty Tuesday wasn’t so tasty after Eli (who is 17 months old) pulled on a hot pad, causing our Pesto-Pasta-Pie to crash to the floor. He was 100% unharmed – thank GOD!  Fortunately I had made the whole box of spaghetti so I could make a freezer meal too. So we ate that instead.

(Let’s be honest, that Pesto Pasta Pie looks A LOT like what you see on the ground outside the wild rides at the fair…yuck.) On the upside of things, we’ve had really clean floors this week!

Another mess…mashed potato flakes all over the floor…

Maybe Eli was trying to tell me that he prefers REAL mashed potatoes instead of instant…What do you think?

 

After 2 years of saying I’m going to make a new valance for our playroom, I FINALLY DID IT!!

I literally picked out that happy mandarin colored fabric 2 years ago. I timed myself & it took me 20 minutes to make it. Isn’t that ridiculous?!

………………

So the highs of my week? Getting some sewing projects done at home. Having jewelry-making night with some of my favorite people! Seeing my 3 year old try on newborn size shorts…still laughing about that but sorry, I’m not putting those pics on my public blog!

The LOW of my week? Definitely the dinner disaster. No one likes to clean up messes, especially ones that we had intentions of eating, right?

 

What were the highs & the lows of your week? Fill me in!

 

Once again I’m linking up @ Life rearranged! Insta-Friday is such a fun way to see the REAL side of other bloggers lives. You should do it too!