Let me be perfectly clear.

Oooo, am I excited for this yummy monday!  This is the first time in a while I'm sharing an actual meal.  PLUS it's one I really, really, REALLY like.  I mean, I don't usually share recipes I don't like with you, but sometimes there's food that stands out miles beyond the rest, you know?

This meal is one of those.

And, to totally shake things up like crazypants, it's a ground beef recipe, which is fairly uncommon for me. 

You guys.  You will never need another meatball recipe again.  I'm serious.  If I could marry a recipe, this would be it.  It should actually be called

But that didn't seem pin worthy, so I fancied it up.  Would you like to know how good this recipe is?  My kids eat it.
I know - mind blown.

I adapted this recipe from one I found here.
So, here's the printable recipe card for your cookbook:

Would you like to hear a little story about the first time I made these meatballs?  Once upon a time there was a lady who made some delicious meatballs to serve over a bed of rice and then realized she had no rice.  So she had to make plain noodles instead and was convinced her dinner would be ruined.

But it wasn't.  It was scrumptious.  The end.

I have since made this recipe two more times (which is when you know you have a real winner) and I DID use rice.  I like it both ways - truly I'm not sure I could pick which I prefer. 

This one's a new family favorite that's already in the regular rotation. But don't just take my word for it.  Really.  Seriously.  In case I've been too cryptic with this post, imagine bright neon lights with starbursts erupting and fancy arrows blinking all pointing to MAKE THIS ONE.

Also, how is it that when I need rice for a special meal I have none, but just now I was looking for a can of tomato soup and noticed I had two GIANT boxes of rice?  Apparently I stocked up without realizing it so the aforementioned travesty would never happen again.

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Picky-eater Halloween Special

Well hello!  It's my first non-gift post in a while, don't let it throw you.  I thought it might be time to get back into

So tonight's post is a super easy, yummy, Halloween-related, lunch idea for the kiddos.

I packed these in bug's lunch last year around Halloween time and they were a huge success!  I should probably add that this kid is NOT easy to make a sack lunch for.  

There will be none of this for Halloween:

 because he won't eat green olives.  Or the rest of the sandwich, most likely.
Or this:

 because he won't heat eggs, chicken, cherry tomatoes or pita chips.  And yes, I HAVE tried packing all of that in the past...
Or this:

 Because, again, he won't touch chicken.  Or those white things in the corner - I don't know what they are, but I know he wouldn't eat them.
Or this:

Because he won't eat sandwich meat of any kind.  Or pretzels.  And he'd likely think the sprinkles were bugs.

And definitely not this:

 because he'd die if I tried to make him eat hummus (again), he despises cucumbers, and he refuses hot dogs.  
And this:

Because, well, I'D die if he actually ate a meatball.  Also, the black chips would freak him right out.

I mean seriously, parents.  Are your kids EATING these meals at school without you standing over their shoulders harping on them to eat or they'll shrivel up into a walking skeleton?  Really??  Because if so, do you realize how lucky YOU ARE???
All of those ideas and more, by the way, can be found in the Halloween gallery on Wendolonia.

After my son bringing home parts of his lunch repeatedly and me trying new things for lunch REPEATEDLY we finally sat down together and made a list of things he would actually eat and not just toss.  I forced him to choose some veggies, though he wasn't happy and our list is pretty limited.  It looks something like this:
Sandwiches or Tortilla: Peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, peanut butter and honey, cheese and mayo.  NOTHING ELSE.
Fruit: kiwi, banana but only if it isn't brown at all or mushy in any way (and you can guess how well THAT usually works out) apples (but only if they're cut up because it's "too hard" to eat them the other way" - what?  You mean like normal people eat them?), peaches (but only the kind in the little cup, not fresh), strawberries (but only if they are ripe and sweet and not at all tart), grapes (only purple and NOT mushy), cantaloupe and watermelon.  
Veggies: sugar snap peas if they are fresh and have no brown spots, broccoli if it is cooked and warm, cooked and mashed butternut squash, green beans from my sister IL's garden NOT from the store, avocados if they have no brown spots and aren't too ripe.  Definitely no carrots - for the love of all that is holy NO CARROTS.
Other: crackers but only Townhouse or Cheese Its.  Not Ritz, not saltines, not Cheese Nips and yes he can tell the difference between nips and its, thank you very much.  Cheese sticks, but only the orange kind because the white kind is gross.  Yogurt, but he prefers only strawberry if it's go-gurt NOT that gross berry kind that no one wants to eat which comes in the pack WITH the strawberry.  Absolutely no pretzels UNLESS they are the special kind you can buy at Costco that are small and stubby and filled with peanut butter.  
From time to time I fill his thermos with macaroni and cheese or spaghettio's and that's a serious treat.  He comes home elated.

So you can see he's pretty particular.  And oh, the pains I take to make sure his lunch is up to his standards!  I WANT a nice, healthy lunch that will give him energy that he still loves and thinks "my mom is totally thinking about me right now" when he looks at it.
You know, the unattainable.

Anyway, all that to say that in my quest to make sure I gave him fun, holiday themed lunches last year I came up with this one which meets his requirements.  If your child is also a... um... discerning eater, you might want to try it too!  It's easy.

You'll need peanut butter, bananas, flour tortillas, and those candy eyes you can find in the fancy baking section.  You will cut the banana in half and use 1 tortilla per banana half, so you could spread peanut butter just on one half of the tortilla and leave the other half plain if you're just making two mummies.  I made 4.

1. Spread peanut butter on a tortilla.
2. Cut the tortilla into skinny strips.
3. Cut a plain tortilla into skinny strips.
4. Peel a banana.
5. Cut it in half.
6. Wrap a peanut butter strip around the top.
7. Wrap another around the bottom, overlapping strips a bit.
8. Take a plain strip and wrap it around all the peanut butter that's oozing out.  Use as many plain strips as you need to cover up the oozy bits and stick the ends down with just a bit of peanut butter.  Overlap the strips at different angles.
9. Add the eyes.  Just gently press them into the banana.  If it seems that they are loose, just use a dab of peanut butter on the back to get them to stick.

Ta da!

Mummies!  Bug thought they were pretty spectacular, so that was cool.  Good luck to you other picky eater mamas out there!

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Simple? Nothing simple about it...

Last year I was looking for something cute and simple to give to the kids' teachers.  There were three of them, and let's face it - that can get pricey if you let yourself get carried away.

This isn't my original idea, you can find that here.  But I did alter it up to make it my own variation.

And so, I present to you:

Simply the best teacher gift!  

First off, here's an easy way to make a cute tag for the lemonade:

You need:

Some cute, plain cards with holes along the edge (or white card stock and a hole punch)

fun scrapbook paper

markers to match

double sided tape

twine

scissors

1. Cut your card apart along the fold.

2. Use the side that has the holes.  Cut it down a bit so it isn't so long.

3. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper so it's about half the length of the card.  Don't worry about the width.

4. Put double sided tape on the back of the paper.

5. Place the card on the top half of the back of the paper.

6. Fold the paper up, sandwiching the card in between.

7. Cut the sides of the paper off so it's the same width as the card.

8. Write your message. (in this case, "you are simply the best!" to go with the simply lemonade, which really IS the best lemonade in my opinion.)

9. Cut your twine and feed it through a hole toward the middle of the card.

10. Weave your twine in and out of the holes across the middle.

11. Wrap the twine around the top of the lemonade and tie it in a knot.

12. And it looks so cute!

Of course you can use your computer if you don't like hand writing your tags.  I like the hand made sentiment, so I just wrote it out myself.  You could also take all these steps away, and print out the ones I made.  Then just punch holes across the top and weave your twine and tie it on.  Bam. Done.

 For the gift basket, you need:
a bin
simply lemonade
a cute lemonade jar or cup
reusable ice cubes
printable tags
tissue paper
thank you cards, scissors and twine

1. Layer your bin with tissue paper.
2. Place your lemonade.
3. Put your cute cup next to it.
4. Sprinkle in your ice cubes that don't melt (which is what Zoe calls them)

I had the kids create their own thank you cards:

 Then just cut your twine and tie it on to the handle.

Now, let's talk about the contents a bit.
I got the thank you cards at Target in the dollar section.  I could not resist the yellow stripes and have had them for quite a while.  They were perfect for this.
I got the adorable lemonade jar at Shopko.  They were on sale, so that helped.  It isn't glass, it's plastic which I liked.  It has the look of glass but won't break.  Plus it's yellow and the front says "country time" - I mean, come on.  Perfect.  I had checked at the dollar store, Walmart and Target and didn't find anything nearly as cute or affordable.  
Those stupid reusable ice cubes were stinking hard to find.  They were all over like two years ago, and NOWHERE this year.  I figured I'd be able to find some cute bright colors and fun shapes and didn't worry much about it, and then of course, when I COULDN'T find them, they became so intrinsically woven into the fabric of this present that I simply couldn't give up the idea of including them.  It became an obsession.
I found them at Shopko, but unfortunately didn't have the luxury of picking fun colors or shapes since there was only ONE bunch of them left.  I divided the bunch between the three gifts and luckily they matched the green on the lemonade and in the tissue paper or I think my brain may have exploded.

FREE PRINTABLE TAGS!

 Later on, in the summer, I found those darn ice cubed in bright colors at Walmart.  So apparently their availability depends on the time of year and probably where you live as well.  Good luck.

 Teachers loved them.  I suppose the extra effort was worth it?  

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

a very encouraging gift.

I was looking for something personal and kind of sentimental for my mom's birthday this year, and morphed an idea I found on pinterest into this:

So your gift it/yummy monday idea is full of chocolate and mint.  If you know of someone who loves Andes chocolates, this may be just right for them!  It's super easy and comes together fast, as long as you've got the rest of the family's cooperation!

You'll need:
1-2 bags of Andes mints (how many you need depends on the age of your recipient)
pint or quart sized mason jar
washi tape
printable topper
double sided tape
twine
computer/printer

The first step is the most difficult - ha!  Email or call your whole family (whoever you want to include) and ask them to provide a list of the reasons they love your... whoever you're giving the gift to.  It may take a while to get a response!
The trick is to include as many responses as your recipient is old.  My mom was turning 62 so I needed 62 responses.
For my jar, I included my brothers and sister, their spouses and all the grandkids.  (Even my 10 month old provided an answer.)  I just had them each include as many as they wanted to and I made up the difference.
Once you've collected them all, type them up in a fun font leaving space between each one and print them out on normal paper.

Cut them apart so there is one response on each strip of paper.

Take a strip and wrap it around one mint, then secure with washi tape - make sure to put the tape not only on the strip of paper, but also on the mint itself to make sure the strip of paper doesn't slide off.

Then fill up your jar.  
One strip of paper and one piece of washi tape per mint.  

Once you're finished, punch out the circle tag and cut some twine.

Use double sided tape to secure the circle tag to the top of the lid.  Screw the ring around the jar and tie the twine in a knot around it.

Voila!

Now, when your mom (or whoever you're giving this to) has a hard day, they can pull out a mint and read why they are so very awesome.  I loved having the grandkids contribute... it made for a fun variety of answers!

If your recipient doesn't like andes mints, you could always do lifesavers mints or even mint gum!

Below are the gift tags, one in case your mom is also turning 62 and one where you can fill in the age yourself.

Of course, I completely forgot about the part where you might want to give this to someone who is NOT your mom, so there's no tag for that.  Whoops.

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*

Stuffed Drinking Jars

It's yummy Monday.

It's also Gift it.

So you know what that means!  Yummy Gift It!

Today's fun and yummy gift is courtesy of my brother-in-law's birthday.

Long ago, I introduced my family to the amazingness of Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, and my bro IL fell in instant love.
It was a love story to withstand the test of time.

So, naturally, when his birthday rolled around, I wanted to make some for him.  But I also wanted to give him more than a plate of cookies.  What goes better with oreo stuffed choco chip cookies but MILK??  So, I just needed to figure out a way to incorporate that.  Which is how the Stuffed Drink Jar idea was born.

However, there are no drink jars large enough to hold a decent amount of stuffed cookies.  So I had to make my own.  This jar is ginormous.  Not the hugest pickle mason jar you can find, but just the next step down.  This baby is a half gallon jar.  And that's key to this gift, because it allows you to stuff an even dozen cookies down inside it. (more if they aren't the stuffed kind)

So, how do you make your 1/2 gallon jar into a drinking jar?

You'll need:

a 1/2 gallon jar

washi tape

a large drill bit and drill

a tiny pliers

a reusable, large diameter straw (they sell them by the drinking jars - my straw is Aladdin brand and came in a 4 pack)

twine

printable tag

cookies

First, bake some cookies.  Whatever is the recipients favorite.  Bonus points if they're stuffed cookies... you know, to match the theme.

Stuff the cookies into the jar.  Well, after you let them cool, of course.

Take the inner lid.  Cover it in strips of cute washi tape.

Use a drill with a large drill bit to drill a hole off to the side.

Use a small, extra grippy, pliers to squeeze all around the drilled hole so the jaggedy-ness is pressed tightly to the bottom side of the lid. (I used a very small jewelry making pliers because I could really get it into the hole)

Put the straw through the hole from bottom up.

Place the straw in the jar (be careful not to impale any cookies) and the lid on top.  Screw the ring around tightly.

Print out a tag and punch a hole.  

Put the tag on some twine and tie it around the ring.

Ta-da!

I think this would be a great "welcome to the neighborhood" gift, "happy school starting" teacher gift, or "cheer up!" gift.  Or, let's face it.  An anytime at all gift, for no reason at all gift, for anyone at all who likes cookies gift.

 In short, the best kind of gift.

Here are your tags:

Obviously, you could actually use these tags for nearly anything that is STUFFED in anything else.  A bucket stuffed with microwave popcorn?  Sure.  A box stuffed with stovetop stuffing?  Weird, but also ok.  If the thing being stuffed inside the other thing is also in itself STUFFED, well, that's just an awesome bonus.

*Be sure to check below for all the fun parties I link to!*