Rabbit, Onion Laces, and Potato Salad, Oh My!

This was the first time that I've ever cooked rabbit, and I must say, it turned out quite well!

First, I threw all the drums and legs into the frying pan. I'm not sure if this is a normal thing or not, but they "popped" horribly in the oil so you might want to cover them while frying. If you cover them, make sure you turn down the heat a bit. Fry them for about 8 minutes on each side.

While they're cooking mix up some homemade Jack Daniels BBQ sauce.

1/2-3/4 cup Jack Daniels (depending on how well you like the stuff)
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tsp Worcshesteshire sauce
a quick squeeze of lemon (not the whole thing! Just halve it and squeeze +-Tbsp into the mix)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I actually use about 1/2 tsp Garlic, Garlic by Tastefully Simple)

Mix it all together, and there you have your homemade BBQ sauce! This tastes AMAZING on chicken and ribs also.

Next, remove the rabbit pieces from the pan and place in a casserole dish. Before you throw them in the oven, smother them with homemade Jack Daniels BBQ sauce. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes turning every 10 minutes or so.

Now on to onion laces!!!

Take an onion, peel it and slice it as thin as you can. Separate the pieces and soak in milk at least 15 minutes. While they're soaking mix up the breading, 1 cup of flour liberally dusted with chili powder. Once you've mixed the two ingredients together, take the onions out of the milk and toss them in the breading bowl, making sure they are well coated before frying them up! These seriously rival the ones you'd find at those expensive steak houses! Yummy!

Easy Peasy Pizza Pie!

There's been a few pizza pies made in my kitchen over the years, but this is by far the best!

I happened upon the crust recipe completely on accident!

One day, while shopping at Walmart, I came across some white flour tortilla mix. I had made corn tortillas but not flour ones yet. So I bought a package, brought it home and made up some tortillas. They turned out pretty thick. We ended up eating them as tostadas...

Then it hit me! These would be pretty good as a pizza crust! And that's just what I did!

Combine two cups of the mix and 1/2 a cup of warm water in your Kitchen Aid, or with a mixer. When it looks like dough, stop! Cover and let sit for about 10 minutes. Next, knead it in the bowl with one hand about 8 times. (You can knead it on the counter but I despise cleaning up the flour mess.)

Take it out of the bowl and pat it inbetween your palms til it's about 8 inches across. Lay it in the middle of your pizza stone and starting in the middle pat it out with your hands til it gets to the edge, then just roll the edge up a bit to give it a ridge so the toppings don't fall off while baking.

Another way is to make them personal size, all you need to do is take two pieces of parchment paper and place a baseball sized piece of dough in between, then stick it in a tortilla press and press down the lever. It will ooz out the edges but that's okay, you want it to do that as it makes the border to keep the toppings in.

Then just add whatever toppings you want. To make it easy I just use spagetti sauce from a jar, sprinkle mozzerella cheese all over, a decent amount of pepperoni, and some sliced olives!

Bake at 400* for about 20 minutes. When it's done, let it stand for about 5 minutes. Last but certainly not least, dig in!!!

It's Cookie Time!!!

What perfect timing! I came across these on Oriental Trading Company as we were gearing up for cookie season. Every meeting, the girls run in the door and head straight for the table with the cookie games.

This is a Cookie Memory Game where the girls turn over two cards and hope for a match. If they don't match they turn them back over and try and remember where they were the next time their turn comes around. Whoever makes the most matches wins! I divided each set into two games because a full set was just too many for the girls to work with. This is a GREAT time filler! Easy clean-up too!http://http//www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?demandPrefix=12&sku=60/7039&mode=Searching&erec=6&D=memory+game&Ntt=memory+game&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&N=0&requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sd=56+Pc.+Cookie+Matching+Game

Decorated Hair Ribbons

One of our recent craft projects was decorating hair ribbons. I came across some extra wide shoe laces at the flea market and my mom was so sweet as to give the troop her old fabric paints! Awesome!!!

Prep for this craft; cut cardboard or card stock into strips and tape them together end to end. Next, take some regular tape and roll it up on itself (you're basically wanting to make double sided tape) Stick the tape on the strip of cardboard and press the shoelace down on the tape. This makes it easy to move the shoelaces when they're still wet.

Then, let the girls decorate them with fabric paint.

Try-Its: Art to Wear

Honduran Cuisine

I had been craving some of my Step-Mother-in-Laws authentic Honduran cuisine, so what did I do? I googled!

Here's my first shot at carne asada and pupusas.

The carne asada was soooo tender and flavorful! And the pupusas were delish!

I think it's safe to say, my husband fell in love with me all over again tonight.

Tooth Fairy Box

Years ago, I was the Creative Activities Leader for a MOPS group when the theme was "Twinkle". Naturally, stars were the first thing I thought of. I combed the shelves of craft stores in my area and came upon these wooden star boxes at Michaels for $1.00! What a perfect box for a tooth!

Start by taking the lid off, if you paint it with the lid on it will be stuck shut forever.

Give it a couple good coats of yellow paint (I like Americana). Here comes the fun part! Get an old toothbrush, dip the bristles in the cream colored paint, and pointed the bristles at the star, run your finger over them. This will splatter paint the star giving it a little more interest. Then, using the end of a paint brush, dip it in some cream colored paint and apply polka dots all over top of the lid.

Now for the wand. Take a toothpick and cut it in half, and then paint it with the cream colored paint. Once dry, coat it in a bit of white glue and dip in a fine clear glitter. Use a star bead for the top. Apply a dab of glue in the bead and slide it onto the pointed tip of the toothpick. It's hard to see but I also took a bit of a pink feather and placed it behind the star. Then glue a tiny bow where the star and toothpick meet. Glue your wand in place on the box lid.

Once everything is dried thoroughly, use a Zig pen (an outlining pen used for toll painting, some scrapbookers use these as well) to write "My Tooth" To give your letters a more finished look, make dots on all the tips.

Another way is to use a liner brush and paint the letters on, I prefer doing it this way as it gives it a more artistic feel. Then use a stylis to apply the dots.

Some tips for prepping this craft for a crowd; I found that I could get 4 star boxes painted from a 2 oz bottle of yellow Americana (Americana is thicker, so if you go cheaper you won't have very good coverage and end up using more), also you will need to pre-tie all the little bows. Make sure you have the disposable foam brushes, they work GREAT! for this project.


Total cost of project: $2.00

Here is one packaged for a gift! The irridescent grass and ribbon makes a cute touch!

Sit Upons

For my first blog post ever, I figured I'd start with a favorite Girl Scout craft! It's called the Sit Upon because, well, you sit upon it!

To start, you need to find something soft for in the middle. There is guy at our local farmer's market that sells new, but irregular, foam. I chose a piece about 4ft by 6ft, and at one end measured roughly 2 inches and at the other end measured about 1 1/2 inches thick. I cut it into pieces that were 2 feet by 1 1/2 foot.

Next, you'll need something preferably waterproof so that the dew on the ground doesn't seep through when using it in the morning while camping.

I found a tablecloth material sold by the yard at Walmart for a great price!

Cut 2 pieces for each sit upon that you're making. Be sure to add 2 inches to each of the 4 sides. So if you used the measurements that I used for the foam you'll want to cut the tablecloth pieces 2 foot 4 inches by 1 foot 10 inches.

Place the foam between the two tablecloth pieces and punch holes around the perimeter of the sit upon.

Now here's a pretty neat and cheap idea to help the girls sew with the yarn! Make a needle out of a chenille stem (formerly called pipe cleaners). The only catch is that once you twist the end around itself make sure that the sharp point is pointing down, otherwise it will snag the tablecloth while sewing.

Total cost of project: $2.25

And there you have it!