{Recipe} After-School Snack Fresh Fruit with Cream Cheese Dip

It is starting to get hot down here in the south therefore I have to encourage my children to drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration while playing outside.  If you have not heard this a million of times, I love to cook, entertain, and anything else that is domestic. 

 When the kids get home from school, they normally grab a snack before beginning their homework.  Yesterday, I thought that I would do a little something different.

I made a very small fruit tray with a cream cheese dip.  They were so surprised!  I wanted to share the cream cheese dip with you but WARNING: it can become addicting!

You can pair this with any type of fruit that you have available.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip: 

1-8oz. package of Philadelphia cream cheese

1-7oz jar of marshmallow cream

Splash of milk

Splash of vanilla extract

Directions: 

Allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature (this makes it more easy to work with).

Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream, and splash of milk together until smooth.  Add splash of vanilla and serve with fresh fruit.

This is also great to have at family functions, parties, or gatherings.  Let me know how you like it. 

You can also make a low-fat version by using the fat-free Philadelphia cream cheese or the 1/3 less fat. 

Enjoy!

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{New Products} Preserving Memories…www.simplyheavenbaby.com

Do you ever think about how a child grows up so fast?  I mean literally right before your eyes.  It is like they are a baby one day and a young adult before you know it.  I always feel like I did not take enough pictures of my kids.  I would take pictures of them at school events and holidays but really not the everyday routine.  I also hired a professional photographer a few years ago to take pictures of my girls just being themselves.  I love these types of pictures because it is not the traditional, one two, three, say cheese.  Many people are also using professional photographers today to “capture the moment” of their family.

Sometimes, I will sit down and go through pictures and it is so amazing how fast my kids are growing up.  Some of the pictures are in photo boxes, some are in photo albums, and some are still in the sleeve that the school sent home. 

I know there are parents that take tons of pictures of the babies during the first year.  That is why we are adding large photo albums to our inventory.  These photo albums are so cute and can hold 200 photos.  That’s a lot of pictures.  We also have brag books in stock that you can pull out quickly and show your friends and family.  These items are all sale priced so visit our site today!

www.simplyheavenbaby.com

Pepperpot Nest Large Photo Album 

Pepperpot Molly Large Photo Album 

Pepperpot Molly Brag Book 

Pepperpot Oliver Brag Book 

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Looking for super cute clothing for baby? Don't forget to visit our Etsy shop! We are always adding new items like this one!

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{Gifts} Valentine Day Treats

So as usual, I wait until the last minute and run out and try to get everything done at once.  My daughter asked me in January what was I going to do for Valentine’s Day?  That should have been my first sign to begin planning and I did… a little.  I have read time management books, articles, and even did courses.  I have gotten better but believe me I still have a long way to go with my time management skills.

So Sunday we had a Valentine packaging party for my daughter’s second grade classmates.  I bought more candy that I did not plan to buy but we also included a Valentine pencil, eraser, and notepad.  I think they came out great and the kids really enjoyed them.

Did any of you do anything special?  I would love to know.

I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

{Recipe Review} Chicken and Orzo Salad

Last month I picked up the latest edition of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine.

http://www.semihomemade.com/

She really had some great recipes in this edition that really persuaded me into buying this magazine.  I recently tried one of the recipes in the magazine.  Chicken and Orzo Salad.  This is a healthy and hearty recipe but it really was great!  The following ingredients are needed:

·         1 16oz package of orzo

·         1 cup of light olive oil and vinegar dressing (made my own version of Italian dressing)

·         3 tablespoons reduced fat pesto with basil (Buitoni) (made my own pesto, get the recipe HERE).

·         2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I cooked chicken breast with Mediterranean spices since this is like a Greek dish).

·         1 pint of cherry tomatoes

·         1 8oz block of feta cheese, cubed

·         1 6oz bag of fresh baby spinach

·         1 4oz jar of pitted kalamata olives, drained

Directions:

1.         Prepare orzo according to the directions; drain and rinse with cold water to cool quickly and drain well.

2.        In a small bowl, stir together the dressing and pesto.

3.       In a large bowl, combine cooked orzo, chicken, tomatoes, cheese, spinach, and olives.  Pour dressing mixture over orzo mixture to coat.

Not only is this a quick meal for your family on any given night but it is healthy and feeling.  Sandra Lee also has a blog that offers great recipes.  You should definitely try the chicken and orzo salad and well as other recipes on her BLOG!

{Sewing} My New Baby

I have been so busy making Valentine gifts for my girls.  (You will see in a later post).  I have been sewing left and right to ensure that I am done on time.  Well I was on my last pair of pants last night and “pop” went my serger.  I was so upset because this was the last pair of pants and now this happens.  I tried to re-thread, adjust the needles, and do just about everything that you can think of and still….the serger would not work.  It is so ironic that this should happen to me because in our local Sunday’s paper there was an ad for a free maintenance check.  I told my husband it is about time for me to get my sewing machine serviced but really I forgot about it.   Once this happened last night, the first thing I did this morning was to start researching for another serger.  I looked at different features and was amazed.  I have purchased several  sewing magazines for the longest and I always see an ad for a Baby Lock product and I immediately went to Baby Lock’s website.   I have read so many good reviews and I think the whole “swoosh” jet-air threading had me mesmerized.  It takes me so long to thread my serger.  I wanted to see this machine but there are no local sewing centers here.   The nearest sewing machine center is in Savannah, Georgia which is about 45 minutes away.  My husband suggested that I just get the serger fixed and I said he was right, I will just get it fix.  If I was taking my serger to be fixed, I thought I might as well take my sewing machine also so that it can be serviced.  I loaded up my sewing machine and serger and off to Savannah I went.  The man was sooo nice and stated that he would be able to fix it.  Then he asked how did I like my sewing machine.  I stated that it was O.K. that I had this machine for like 10 years now, and I was really considering an upgrade once I did my research on sewing machines. 

He showed me a demonstration on this machine below:

Janome Magnolia 7330

I think that I blanked out because while driving I looked in the back seat, and I had a new sewing machine!   So totally not what I went there for but I really did want to upgrade.  I am still getting my sewing machine serviced and will pass it down to my daughter.  As far as the serger I will keep it but the cool thing about the new Janome is that I will not even have to use the serger!

What type of machine do you own?