Sister See Sister Do - Tasty Tuesday

Cheddar-Jack
Bacon Mac & Cheese

Have you seen one of Kraft's newest products? My grocery stocks it next to their shredded cheese. It's called, Fresh Take Cheese & Breadcrumb mix. Great idea - everything you need (minus chicken) all in one neat little package!

I had a coupon and it was on sale so for .49 I thought I'd give this new product a try.  Instead of using it to coat my chicken I thought I'd try it out with some pasta.  My family loves homemade mac & cheese (which can be time consuming and costly..)  So I'm always trying new recipes to find one we really like.  This one ended up being very creamy and got RAVE reviews!

Cheddar Jack Bacon Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

16oz box Picolini pasta

Fresh Take Cheddar-Jack & Bacon

1 Jar Ragu Classic Alfredo Sauce

-Cook Pasta according to directions on box until al dente.  Drain pasta and set aside.
-In same sauce pan add entire jar of Alfredo sauce, stir in cheese from the Fresh Take package (save breadcrumbs for later).  Stir until creamy and all cheese is melted.
-Add in cooked pasta and stir until combined.
-Pour pasta mixture into greased 9x13 pan
-Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture from Fresh Take over the pasta
-Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes until cheese bubbles

I can't wait to try the other Fresh Take's flavors in my Mac & Cheese Experiments!

Don't forget to comment on this post for a chance to win this week's give-a-way!

-M-

Sister See Sister Do - April Give-a-ways

As our official KICK OFF to our new blog we are doing a weekly Give-a-Way each Friday in April!!  

What do you need to do to win??

(one of the following)

1. Like us on Facebook & comment on one of this week's post links on Facebook

2. Follow our blog - by clicking 'Join this site' on the Right side of this blog, under our picture, & leave a comment on any of our blog posts this week.

For each post you comment on this week, you'll get an extra entry into this week's drawing!!

THIS WEEK you'll be entered to win a Victoria's Secret 'Secret Reward' card you can spend at VS anytime in April.  Each card is worth $10, $50, $100 or $500!!  You don't know the value until you go to redeem it. 

(I have no idea what this one is worth - you could be a BIG winner).  

We will announce the winner on Friday April 6th!  Make sure you 'Like' or 'Follow' us and comment this week on every post for more chances to win!!  
Check back on the 6th to see if you won! 

Baby Shower Week: Center Pieces - Ducky Style

Okay so this one didn't make the Circle and Dots theme but I still thought it was super cute.  Plus super easy and cost effective so I wanted to share and inspire.

I call this my Rubber Ducky Centerpiece

What you need:

Wide Mouth Vases or you could use Mason Jars

Mini Rubber Duckies (can be found on Amazon.com or OrientalTrading.com)

Blue Food Coloring

Faux Snow (I picked this up at Walmart after Christmas Clearance - a large bag for .62) its basically white plastic bags shredded into tiny pieces.  You could easily do this yourself  with a few backsides of Walmart bags.

I added the plastic 'snow' to the vase about half way up. 

Then mixed the food coloring with water in a pour-able mixing bowl.  

Poured the water into the snow filled vase and added a duck

Super simple, very cost effective and cute!!  With all the Ducky Shower ideas on Pinterest you could easily work up a shower centered around ducky's!!

Baby Shower Week: Cupcakes

The great debate.. Cake or Cupcakes?  

We decided to go the budget method and went with cupcakes instead of investing in a super cute modern cake. At first I had planned to make and decorate the cupcakes myself, I estimated it would cost me about $10 to make the cake and frosting from scratch (sorry not a fan of boxed mixes).

I ended up buying cupcakes from Sam's Club (36 cupcakes for about $13.00).  Then I found valentines Day sixlets in pink, white, red.  I bought 2 bags for 2.00 at Dollar General.  Then I separated the pink from the other colors.  I found edible glitter at Hobby Lobby in green so I could incorporate the pink and green into the cupcakes.  (Note: you can buy all different color sixlets at Hobby Lobby for about 6.99 a bag).  

We also used green and white cupcake liners as sleeves for our cupcakes.  It worked really well hiding the baking liner and giving us more polka dot decor.

Instead of placing the cupcakes with the rest of the food we incorporated them into the decor.  Our centerpieces consisted of 

-a piece of scrapbook paper (.36 each a Hobby Lobby).  

-a vase (or sundae cup) filled with crushed tissue paper (1.00 per package at Dollar General - we used 2 packs for 8 tables).

-polka dot ribbon pinned with straight pins to the vase

-fun flower plates (1.99 each at Hobby Lobby)

~M~

Baby Shower Week: Decor

Baby Shower Week: DECOR

What better way to decorate for a circle themed shower 
than with  
Circle Garland!!

This turned out super cute. I wish I had pics of all the circles before they were sewn together.  I'm honestly not sure how many circles were used...  My co-hostess did all the cutting out of the circles.  She used a circle cutter for the smaller circles and for the larger ones traced a hula hoop on poster board.  The smaller ones are all scrapbook paper or cardstock.

Once the circles came my way I used my sewing machine on a 8 stitch per inch setting and ran them through on a straight line with a little space between each circles.  This part was SUPER easy and QUICK.  I think I spent about an hour sewing circles.

We had circles everywhere. You can see them on the wall and the larger garland was hung from the ceiling by using bobby pins with the extra thread tied to the bobby pin.  Since the room we use had a suspended ceiling the bobby pin was stuck into the grid lines on the ceiling.  They all held tight through the entire shower. We had to use a ladder to take them down because tugging on them didn't work!

We used Dollar Tree fabric table clothes on the tables.  The chair covers are actually polyester fabric from Wal-mart at 1.50 a yard tucked and pinned with straight pins into the fabric chairs (these are the link together chairs many churches use in place of pews these days).  She tied a green tulle sash on the back and the transformation was AMAZING!

This was our Mom-to-Be table.  The marker board reads - 'Reserved for Future Breast feeders of America'.

Now how do you have a Joint shower and decide where to put each girls gifts??? We used one table and split it with half Green table cloth and half Pink table cloth.  We then printed a 'K' and a 'J' on card stock (matching the circles) and then cut them into a circle.  Each letter was pinned to the front of the gift table designating where each girls gifts went.

Like the decor?  Stayed tuned this week for even more Baby Shower ideas!!
Linking up at these parties!!!

~M~

Baby Shower Week: Game Time - The Price is Right

This is a tough one... I always feel like a game is expected at showers, but not always welcomed.  So we came up with a clever game that just involved our Mom's to Be.  Since they were going to be the ones 'on the spot,' we wanted to make it worth their effort.

I call this 'Baby Price is Right'.

Here is what we did:  
1. Purchased 8 items of varying value all for baby (bottles, diaper cream, shampoo, toys, washcloths, towel, baby care kit).  Note: if you coupon and watch your sales you can really keep the cost very minimal for this game.  All together I spent under $10 for all these items.

2. Printed the name of each item on 8 envelopes.  Inside each envelope was the 'actual retail price'.

3. Gave each Mom-to-Be a Marker Board (see how to Here)  These were also used to reserve the special guests table.  Plus they got to take them home to use in their nursery to write sweet nothings to their bundles!

4. Just like at the Price is Right we showed off the item up for bids.  The Moms-to-Be then wrote down their best guess without going over.  The Mom who came closest to the actual retail price without going over WON that item!!  It worked out perfectly for us as each Mom got 4 gifts!

(Tiebreaker idea - have the girls write guess how much you paid for the item up for bids if you were savy and caught a deal this is a lot of fun!)

The game was a HUGE hit - the Mom's loved it, the guests had fun with it too!  Plus it only took about 10 min and audience participation was optional.

~M~

Baby Shower Week: Gift - Hospital Survival Kit

Baby Shower Week: Gifts

Welcome again, to BABY SHOWER WEEK!!

 Day 2: Gifts

 

Gifts - I never quite know what to do... Buy off the registry, get crafty and make something, gift card (I just can't bring myself to do a gift card unless it's a long distance invite that I need to mail a gift for).  Me personally, I love a thoughtful gift.  Something that means the giver thought about the receiver.  I love to watch people open those types of gifts - the ones where their faces light up or eyes tear up.  This is probably the reason I'm not a fan of registries or gift cards... (no offense, just not my preference).

I love to give a thoughtful gift!  I love to spend time thinking about the friend or family member. Reflecting on memories really tune me into the connection and impact that person has in my life.  Granted, not all 'shower's or 'gifts' involve someone we know intimately - so a registry gift works.

Something else I love... Pinterest!!!  I found this 'pin' on Pinterest and immediately wanted to do it for the shower we were throwing.  The 'Hospital Survival Kit' is perfect for a Mom-to-Be - plus you can be really personal with it or general if its for a co-worker or your cousin's wife.  Thanks to Jen at 'My Own Road' for posting this idea on her blog - you can go read her inspiration for the kit at her blog linked above. (Plus she is so generous she provides the FREE printables on her blog too!!!)

So here is my take on the Hospital Survival Kit:

Personal Items

1. Headbands (found at Dollar General 4 for $1)

2. Soft Lips (picked up at CVS for free on Thanksgiving Day)

3. Mini Lotion from Bath and Body (.99 if you find them when they are 'new' and by register to 'try').

4. Nail  Polish (Revlon is my favorite!! (clearance with coupon .27 at CVS)

5.  Lifesavers - keep that breath fresh! (CVS sale .99)

6.  Skittles (pick up a bag of the parents-to-be favorite candy).

7.  Dried Pineapple - I had to throw in something semi-healthy...

8.  Tootsie Roll Caramel Apple Suckers (my favorite!!  I can't find them any where but Amazon.com has them for about 10.00 for 48 or GFS has the same box for 6.99)

9.  Not pictured - I found Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel bits at Big Lots for $2.00 and snuck them  in last minute.

I think the total cost was about $30 for both kits (including the bags and tissue paper).  The receivers LOVED the gifts and I hope they get to use everything during those joyous hours spent in the hospital.

If you want to make your own make sure you check out 'My Own Road' for the printables.

Thanks for visiting! 

We're sharing this post at these great parties! 

~M~