cooking, crafts, decorating & country life

Cheese Salad – AKA Pink Stuff perfect for Valentines Dinner

Written on January 6, 2012 by C&MB in Cheese, Christmas, Fruits, Holidays & Occasions, Recipes, Side Dish, Valentine's Day

My family loves this dish. In fact we had it for Christmas but it is perfect for Valentine’s Day dinner or Easter. The color is so pretty and vibrant.

It comes out looking a red/pink color. Its official name is Cheese Salad– but in my entire family we call it Pink Stuff. If we called it by the correct name, no one would know what we were talking about.

However PINK STUFF is a must at our parties. It is so good.

It is a side dish, fruity/cheesy it is almost a dessert. And we all know the person that is going to eat most of it is Chad. I have family members that do not even like cottage cheese but love this. TRY IT! I promise– YUMMMM YUM!

Your ingredients (plus a block of cream cheese that I forgot to include..whoooops)

Using softened cream cheese- stir with cottage cheese.

Sprinkle your gelatin on the mixture & stir.

Drain your pineapple, and add to the salad and mix well.

Fold in your cool whipp topping gently till mixed well.

Keep refrigerated until time to eat. Can’t help to lick the spoons before hand!

I grew up eating this as a little girl. You can change out to any flavor of gelatin you would like. We have even used lime green in the past. That turns out really yummy!

DELISH!!!!

ENJOY!

Cheese Salad – PINK STUFF

INGREDIENTS:

1 -8 oz. box cream cheese
1 small carton of cottage cheese
1 small carton of cool whip
1 large can of crushed pineapple
½ cup nuts (optional)
1 large Jell-O (preferably strawberry)

DIRECTIONS:

Soften cream cheese and stir with cottage cheese.
Sprinkle Jell-O on mixture & stir.
Add nuts (optional we did not use) and drained pineapple.
Fold in cool whip and refrigerate until time to eat.

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Christmas 2011 Table Decorations

Written on January 3, 2012 by C&MB in Christmas, Decorations, DIY Project / Crafts, Holidays & Occasions

I apologize for the lateness of this post. The holidays really came so quickly and was hard to keep up. But better late than never right?

Using pretty straw/raffia filler from Micheals Crafts. We filled plastic ornaments with it.

Our little tree — just branches stuck into a french bucket filled with rocks. And our ornaments hung on the branches. Added to the table for a different look.

These cute little reindeer boxes. Were created with our Silhouette machine. We made one for every person coming to dinner added their name to it. Added treats inside of the box.
I filled a very large mason jar with red/white/green gumballs. The kids at the table LOVED this. Simply tied the jar with raffia

Everyone also had smaller mason/canning jars with lids and paper straws to drink their waters with. That was a hit with the family. Something other than paper cups. I got my straws from Polk-a-dot Market

Christmas can’t be complete with out a Poinsettia plant

Our plates were purchased at Party City. We got the gold table cloth from there as well. We made matching belt buckle papers to use as napkin rings to wrap our forks in white napkins.

It wasn’t a super elaborate set up- but alot of fun things to look at and the family loved it.

Hope you had a great Christmas Holiday!!

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Easy Treat Gable Boxes – Christmas

Written on December 18, 2011 by C&MB in Christmas, DIY Project / Crafts, Holidays & Occasions

I got these great Kraft Gable boxes over the Black Friday weekend. They were on sale and free shipping. I got them from Whispering Pines.

I used my Silhouette machine and cut out the letters of the last name of the recipient. Glued it on. Then I used a Martha Stewart punch – Snowflake Punch then glued that on.

Added one snowflake on the back too So cute!

Inside I put my treats…

All my treats wrapped up in cellophane paper. Tied with Bakers Twine

Made some cute tags to add to it- with a message and from “The North’s” on it.

One fun thing I added at the last minute – I forgot I picked up these snowflake ornaments after Christmas at Target. They are usually 1.00 for 4 however I am pretty sure I only paid .25 cents for the set of 4. I only bought 2 packs. This year now that I know what I will do with them- I will get more. They add the perfect touch to the box.

I love my red & white bakers twine.

Very inexpensive and pretty darn cute. I am excited to give them away to friends

I am also excited I am done baking a week in advance before Christmas. All time record for me. WOOHOO!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

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Adorable Snowman Gumballs

Written on December 16, 2011 by C&MB in Christmas, DIY Project / Crafts, Holidays & Occasions

I have this LARGE box of Gumballs from Sam’s club. I need to use up. Seriously there is over 800+ pieces in the box.

I wanted to make snowmen out of some of the white ones and played around with ideas till I found this one was the best route.

I wanted something FAST, no sewing and adorable. I am happy how they turned out.

Supplies

–Fabric Scissors
–2 1/2 x 1 1/2 piece of fleece
–1/2 x 4 piece of fleece
–3 gumballs
–pretzel stick baggie (I got mine from joann’s in the candy making area)
–Black and Orange Sharpie Marker
– Silver Tie (came with the baggie)

Place your 3 gumballs in the bag

Twist the top of the bag tightly

Wrap the large fleece piece around the top of the gumballs

Use the silver tie- to tie on the hat and twist really tight. I twisted it then wrapped the end around the hat so it didn’t stick out.

Before I trimmed it- I pulled the plastic baggie pushing he hat as close to the head of the snowman as possible. Need to make sure that silver tie it tight. Once it is in place, trim the baggie and the hat to the length you want.

I then clipped the end of the hat in about 5-7 places to make it look more like a pom pom top of the hat.

Tie on the scarf around the “neck” of the snowman.

Orange Sharpie- draw on a nose

Black sharpie draw on eyes, mouth and buttons

Repeat- to make a few more snowman friends

The fleece I found at JoAnns as well.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TAGS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

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WINNER!! Of our December Plaid Crafts Giveaway!!

Written on December 11, 2011 by C&MB in Deals & Freebies, This n' That

This giveaway prize has a retail value of $40. The giveaway prize includes the following: 4 FolkArt holiday colors, 4 FolkArt Extreme Glitter holiday colors, Sparkle Mod Podge, and a Value Pack of 25 brushes.

OUR WINNER IS……..

Selected by using Random.org

COMMENT #46!!!

Belongs to…..

Written on November 29, 2011 by C&MB in This n' That

HURRY UP DECEMBER!! I am so ready for it to be December. I am a bit behind and haven’t put up my tree yet. I hope I am not the last one on the block with out my tree up Lots of great projects!!! Here is our top clicked link last week….. Thanksgiving…

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