Delicious and Super Easy Cannoli's from Scratch...



Ever wonder how to make those delicious pastries you see in small Italian bakery shops? I know I do!! I love going into those cute little shops and tasting whatever looks the most delicious. And so it got me thinking...this can't be that hard! Especially for a mother of 2!

My wonderful sister Jenn gave me a pizzelle maker that I desperately wanted for Christmas this year (she was my secret Santa!!) I was so excited, I couldn't wait to open it up and make my first batch of pizzelle's. While looking through my pizzelle parts and pieces I realized that they included a stainless steel rod. What on earth could that be for!!! Then it dawned on me...CANNOLI'S. You use it to roll shells for cannoli's; and so this past week I gave it a try and they turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Absolutely delicious. It also helps that I have a secret recipe for the filling!! At least I think it should be secret because it is so delicious!

STEP 1: make your pizzelle's

(any favorite pizzelle recipe will do, I made vanilla and almond pizzelle's, but I think chocolate pizzelle's would also make fabulous cannoli's). Here is an awesome pizzelle recipe from cooks.com.

STEP 2: while your pizzelle is hot off the iron, roll it around the rod, shape and let cool.



This is how they will look once they are finished, cooled and ready to be filled.

STEP 3: The Filling:

The key to the filling is to make it to taste,

I add a little more of this and that until I like how sweet it is.

*1 lb Ricotta cheese

*2-3 tbs cool whip

*1 tsp vanilla

*Start with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and

add more to taste if needed 

*mini chocolate chips

Mix the 1st three ingredients together, add powdered sugar to taste,

mix in chocolate chips.

STEP 4: Fill your cannoli shells, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and refrigerate until ready to serve

TIP: don't fill your cannoli shells too soon, otherwise the shells can get soft. An hour or two before you serve them would be fine.

 ..now I need to go get my cup of coffee and a delicious cannoli...






   

Lucky Ducky Duct Tape Flower Pens

Hello sisters, Lulu here! I have a new BFF and it's name is duct tape. I am a seventh grader and duct tape can be seen around my school. It comes in tons of colors and people use it to cover their binders, make wallets and create bracelets. One of my friends used it to make little bows that she attached to bobby pins to wear in her hair. I had this week off from school and thought I would give duct tape crafting a try. We found our duct tape at Michael's for about five dollars a roll. I decided to try a duct tape flower pen project and OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS HAPPINESS ON A STEM!!!!! Here's how to make a rainbow flower pen.

Step One: Measuring the tape

Each petal is a 2 inch piece of duct tape. Each flower can have anywhere from 21-24 petals. I have 6 colors, so I made 24 petals, 4 of each color. I found the easiest way to cut the duct tape was to measure each strip on a gridded mat and cut it with an exact o knife.  

Step Two: To make the petals

Take one 2 inch strip, sticky side up and fold down one corner so that you are left with an "L" of sticky. Fold the other upper corner down leaving just the bottom strip of the sticky "L". Repeat this to make all the petals. 

Step Three: Forming the flower

Take a small piece of duct tape and cover the bottom of the pen to create the center of the flower (not shown in picture). Take your first petal and wrap it around the end of the pen. Continue to wrap each petal so the points are staggered.

Once you have finished wrapping your petals....... voila!!

 

Step Four: Adding the stem
Measure a strip of green tape the size needed to cover the pen from the cap to the base of the flower. A BIC pen uses 4 inches of green tape. Wrap the piece of tape around the pen. 


Step Five: Finishing touches
Cut a half inch strip of green tape and cut it into 4 equal squares. Stick the squares to the base of the flower evenly spacing the points.
 
I have made solid color flowers, flowers using three colors and the rainbow flowers. We actually decided that we like the rainbow flower better starting with purple on the inside and ending with red on the outside. Here are some of my colorful creations!

I can't wait to give these to my friends and family. Don't worry J I'm bringing you a rainbow one tonight!

 

Linking To!

Yummy Yummy Appetizer!

 

Last Friday morning, I arrive at work and then suddenly remember that I had to bring an appetizer to Bible Study that night and I had totally forgotten!!  Not to worry!  I went to a recipe website (click here for the link) that is quickly becoming one of my favorite places for ideas and perused through the selection of appetizer recipes that were up for grabs.  I found an idea for some quick and easy Sausage Party Melts that looked yummy and just by chance there was some breakfast sausage in the freezer!  Which is quite odd because the Professor (my husband) will not eat any forms of ground meat (due to a traumatic college course on food preparation).

I quickly phoned home and the Professor went to grab some cheese, tomatoes and some cute little rye slices from the store.  By the time I got home he had the sausage mixture all ready to go and all I had to do was finish them up!

They were super easy to make and came out looking so yummy.  I have included some of my ingredient substitutions below:

 ~ 1 Pound Sausage
~ 1(8oz) Package Velveeta cheese, cut up
~ 24 slices cocktail rye bread (or regular rye bread cut in half)
~ 3 small fresh tomatoes, chopped (I used cherry tomatoes and cut them in half)
~ Dried Oregano Leave (I was out of oregano, so I used parsley flakes to add in some color)

P.S.  Meet the poor kitty that was terrorized by the Marshmallow  during his stay with us.  Honestly Marsh-mellow!  How could you!

hate spending $5 for a gift bag that gets thrown away? make your own!!

It's simple, it's easy, it's free-spirited and it's FREE! This gift bag is for a baby shower I was invited to.... read on!

how to draw an octopus link

See what's inside! (it's pretty sweet!)

Other great resources for "green" gift wrapping ideas that I love:

Katie at Making this Home goes simple and free

Pretty much everything Sue does at Creative Tryals!

Family Chic is another new read I've found that's all about re-purposing!

 

Linking to:

Valentine's Day Ice Cream Cones....

Please accept my sincere apologies for this late valentines day blog!  We had the flu frenzy over here last week.... right in time for our valentines day getaway to NYC.  :)          Not. Fun.

anyhooo,  here's a quick and cute idea for next year.  (Nothing like being prepared! ;)  I got this idea from http://latdah.blogspot.com/  

                                          

Materials: 

Ice Cream Cones

M&M's

Cotton Candy

Cello Bags/Ribbon

Heart Shaped Paper Punch/Card Stock

Scissors

Small Hold Punch

  

 Step One:  

Fill cones with filler candy 

of your choice....  

Step Two:

Place rounded gobs of 

Cotton Candy on top.

Step Three:

Hold together securely and place in Cello bag.

Step Four:

Tie with Ribbon and attach heart shaped name tag 

Beloved, let us love one another: 

for love is of God;

 and every one that loveth is born of God,

 and knoweth God.”

~ 1 John 4:7