2011 February | Skip To My Lou

Archive for February, 2011

Super Bowl Food Ideas

posted by cindylouh on February 5th, 2011 | recipes, Super Bowl |

If you are trying to think up some yummy snacks for the Super Bowl you might give these recipes a try.

First up is the best ball watching dip out there!

Spicy Buffalo Dip

2 - 8 ounce packages of cream cheese (softened)

1 cup bottled Ranch Salad Dressing

1 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce

2 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped OR 2 cans of chicken drained

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Soften cream cheese, mix together all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until bubbly. Serve with celery and Chicken in a Biskit crackers.

Next up, these lightly seasoned pretzels make a great crunchy snack!

Honey Mustard Glazed Pretzels

1 - 15 to 16 oz bag mini pretzels

1/4 cup honey

3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried mustard (you can add more if you would like a more mustard flavor)

2 Tablespoons butter (melted)

Melt butter and mix in other ingredients. Pour over pretzels. Place pretzels in a large pan and bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and separate pretzels before completely cooling (they have a tendency to stick together while cooling).

Need something sweet?

Football Brownies

Take your favorite brownie (a mix is fine) and cut into football shape with a football cookie cutter. Add some white frosting details and you have a simple and cute sweet treat! Cookies & Cheese made Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies for her footballs.

You might like this Super Bowl Panini Party Recipe from last year.

Have a fun Super Bowl!

Updating...

12 Comments

You’re the bomb!

posted by cindylouh on February 4th, 2011 | Uncategorized |

Here is a Friday Flashback about making bath bombs.

Bath bombs make the perfect Valentine's Day gift when packaged to look like a bomb along with a tag that says, "You're the 'bomb'!"

They would also make cute teacher appreciation gifts!

Homemade Fizzy Bath Bomb Recipe

How to make foaming bath bombs

Supplies:

2 Cups Baking Soda

1 Cup Citric Acid

4 teaspoons massage oil ( or 2 teaspoons essential oil and 2 teaspoons olive oil)

Spray bottle with water

mold (60 mm 2 part plastic ball) (I am also thinking the bottoms of two large Easter eggs could be used)

This amount only made 5 bath bombs. If I was making more I would buy the citric acid online in bulk. The small bottle you see pictured (1/2 cup) was $2.50. I purchased it from my local health food store.

Mix baking soda and citric acid in large mixing bowl. Mix very well! You can use an electric mixer if you like.

Add in 4 teaspoons of scented massage oil (or other combination of skin safe essential oil for scent and another oil for moisturizing the skin). The scent is personal, so start with a teaspoon or so and add more until you are satisfied. Mix well.

This next step can be a bit tricky because you don't want your bath bomb to start fizzing. Start by adding a couple of fine mist sprays of water to your mixture and mix well.

You will continue spraying until the mixture will clump in your hand when squeezed. (I used 5-8 sprays, however this will depend greatly on your local climate)

Fill one half of your mold. Pack it tightly.

Fill the other half of the mold and place them together---don't snap together. I slightly overfilled each half. When I pushed the two halves together they became a ball.

Gently remove the ball from mold. If I had problems with the ball coming out easily I dumped the mixture back into my bowl, added a mist of water (carefully), mixed well and then tried again.

Cut out about a 10 inch circle of black tissue paper.

Wrap tissue up around your bath bomb and trim if necessary.

Place a silver pipe cleaner in the center and then wrap a shiny red pipe cleaner around the the tissue paper and silver pipe cleaner. Add a tag and you are finished! You might want to write instructions for using the bath bomb on the back of the tag.

The bath bomb worked great. It provided fizz, bubbles and fun for my daughter's bath.

Enjoy!

22 Comments

Snow Day!

posted by cindylouh on February 3rd, 2011 | Uncategorized |

I attended the Craft and Hobby Association Show in LA this week and couldn't make it home due to all the storms. Well my friend Amy and I made good use of our extra time in California. Amy is guesting posting today to share about our shopping day on the famous Abbot Kinney Blvd. We had a fabulous time!

Amy is the author of Vintage Notions , an inspirational guide to needlework, cooking, sewing, fashion and fun. She is also the owner of Indygo Junction, a wonderful pattern company. You will want to check out her site!

Amy writes....

After several days at the CHA show in LA our(my mom and I) flights today were canceled because of the snow storm. We hit Abbott-Kinney for a free day of exploring this amazing, eclectic shopping destination. Cindy (Skip to my Lou) is my creative buddy from Kansas(we had coordinated our flights to travel home together)…so we had a day of fun together!!! First we ran into Malibu Barbie and her friends- a celebrity siting!! Next we stopped at Jins for lunch and colorful delicious macaroons. Cindy chair shopped at French50’s60’s and spotted these fun mobiles at A+R Store. Wonderful signage assemblages were found at the Altered Space Gallery. The fashions were unforgettable, note our matching scarves purchased at Waraku…Last stop wonderful Bountiful… cake plate central(stacked at least 20 feet high)!! Left the store with an awesome rose pillow, wondering what happens when earthquakes start to shake. We ended the day with a wonderful dinner at Hal's.

If we don’t make it home tomorrow, Fashion District here we come!!!

3 Comments

Valentine Decorations For Your Home

posted by cindylouh on February 2nd, 2011 | valentine's day crafts, valentines |

Valentines Day Crafts

Valentines Day is one holiday with really fun crafts! From Valentines Day kid crafts, decorating your home, to decorating Valentines Day Sugar cookies....there are so many options.

I'm Kim from Today's Creative Blog. Cindy went to CHA (Craft & Hobby Show) and I'm Cindy's right hand girl when it comes to filling in. (well not really, but I sound way more important that way) Cindy asked me to show you all a few ideas on how to decorate your home for Valentines day. I've had SO many great ideas brought to me over at TCB, I knew this would be easy.

Burlap Wreath

Myra over at The Casabella Project tweeted me about the burlap wreath she just completed. She knows I go nuts for anything burlap. If you're interested in learning how to make this wreath, head on over to her site for a full tutorial. You'll have this beauty done before you know it. While your there, you may want to look for her other Valentine Decorations.

Valentines Day Countdown

I know you love a good Christmas Advent Calendar, why not carry this over into Valentines Day too? The kids will love it and your spouse will appreciate it.

Becky over at Infarrantly Creative is showing us her handy work with a detailed tutorial on how to make this darling decoration piece. Don't we just LOVE a good tutorial?

Valentine Heart

I think this is the year for Rosettes! I see them everywhere. I'm even giving away a rosette necklace over at Today's Creative Blog.

Amy with The Idea Room has lots of Valentines Day ideas! I had a hard time just choosing one. Using a piece of cool scrapbook paper for her background, she also takes you through a easy to understand tutorial on how she built the frame.

All these items would make the perfect gift. Or maybe just make it for yourself.