Pitch a Tent

After our camping trip this weekend I was thinking of all the stuff that went well, and all of the things that could have went smoother. I should have brought things to make crafts with the kids like I had originally thought to. I found this cute tent cookie and campfire cracker recipe online. How clever are they!?

 

Celebrate the great outdoors with these summery treats!

Tent cookies recipe

Ingredients for the Tents:

• Chocolate candy melts (1/2 cup or less)
• Graham crackers
• Caramel apple wraps

Directions:

1

Form tent from graham crackers

Melt chocolate candy melts in a microwave safe dish. Pour into a pastry bag (or use a zip-closed bag with the end snipped off). Pipe the edges of three graham cracker squares with the candy melt and join to form an A-frame tent.

2

Wrap tent in caramel

Allow them to dry and harden. Place one side of the graham cracker tent on a caramel wrap. Fold the caramel over the graham cracker tent, until it reaches the bottom edge of the other side.

3

Seal tent back and create opening

Cut the front and back flaps of caramel. Wrap the back flaps to seal shut. Cut the front pieces to make the flap openings of the tent.

Campfire treats recipe

Ingredients for the Campfires:

• Ritz crackers
• Pretzel sticks
• Chocolate-covered raisins
• Powdered sugar
• Peanut butter
• Red/Yellow Fruit Roll-Ups

Directions:

1

Prepare the crackers

Spread peanut butter on the crackers.

2

Create the "flames"

Cut strips of red and yellow Fruit Roll-Ups into jagged, triangle/flame-like edges. Layer the red strips over the yellow strips and cut into 1-inch segments.

3

Attach the "logs" and "flames" to crackers

Insert tiny pieces of pretzels and the Fruit Roll-Up fires into the peanut butter centers.

4

Add the finishing touch

Dust chocolate-covered raisins with powdered sugar. Attach chocolate-covered raisin "rocks" around the outside edge of the crackers.

5

Create your campsite

Present your adorable tent cookies and campfire treats together!

Weekend Warrior

As many of you know, I think food is addicted to me. It's okay though, cause I love him right back. I always say, "I want something delicious", when I speak of food. Not all of the time can we afford to splurge and go out. But that doesn't mean we have to suffer at home. And since I was quarantined to my house (due to strep throat), I just had to cook up a storm. P.S. I was no longer contagious or else I wouldn't be touching other people's food. Germs are gross!

Saturday I wanted something refreshing and light. Okay, so I was naughty and went to the market to buy my goodies. We had shrimp and lemons already so we just needed the bell peppers, red onions, avocado, cilantro, etc. Normally I use limes but I wasn't going to fork out more cash than necessary. When making ceviche I find that it is best to buy the mini bell peppers instead of the whole bell peppers. One, they're cheaper, and two, I don't always use the whole bell pepper and it will go to waste. Hey, I was making ceviche on a budget.

I found some really nice steaks on sale so we divided them up and made two separate marinades. One was a tame soy and brown sugar for the kiddies, and we decided to kick it up a notch Emeril style for the adults. I used smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire, onion powder, freshly crushed garlic, a dash of cumin, freshly ground black pepper, and Lawry's meat tenderizer. It came out really nice.

My daughter helped me mix and taste the ceviche while the steaks were marinating. Oh to be seven again. I also got my Food & Wine magazine that day in the mail. On the cover Nina and I saw a simple tomato and bell pepper salsa. You can find the recipe here: fresh-tomato-and-pepper-salsa We figured since we had the ingredients, might as well! I roasted some corn to go along with dinner and threw a little bit in the salsa to blend everything together.

These were our finished products:

Sunday I knew I had to get out of the house. I was stir crazy already after one day. Out of the house for me normally entails visiting familia. This time my mama was the lucky victim. I called to make sure she was going to be home and told her I was bringing dinner. On our trip to the market Saturday we found some inexpensive marinated chicken thighs. I normally like to use chicken breast but this time decided to branch out and try something different. It really worked out well because my enchiladas came out moist and delicious! 

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. I have been wanting to do something like this for a while. It will be mostly potpourri with some recipes that I'm willing to divulge, and pictures of food I have made. Basically things that I find interesting.

The Title of this Blog came to me after much thinking. The Larkspur And The Mum are the birth flowers of my two children.

Nina is my Larkspur.

And Joshua is my Chrysanthemum "Mum".

I look forward to this new adventure and will try to keep this fresh and lively. Thanks friends and familia.

dani