Easy Easter Bunny Decoration

                Easter is coming fast and I would like to give you a few ideas and projects to do with your children or grandchildren for Easter. How many people like to decorate their house for Easter? I know I still do even though my children are all grown up.  My husband’s Grandmother who is not with us anymore showed me how to make this cute Easter bunny made out of a dish soap bottle and scrap material and other odds and ends you probably have around your house. She was into making a lot of arts and crafts that she sold at craft fairs. The whole project took about 1 hour to make.

1.       First, you need an empty dish soap bottle of any size. Wash it out good and then put some sand of water in the bottle to make it heavy. This way your bottle will not fall over.

2.       Take a piece of paper and put your bottle on top. Trace around your bottle leaving plenty of space. When you get close to the shoulders make some arms. From the waist start flaring out, when you get to the bottom add an extra 2 to 3 inches to your skirt.

3.       Transfer your pattern to some bright colored spring like scrapes of material. Sew up your sides, leaving the bottom, and around the neck and arms open.

4.       Place the dress over your dish soap bottle.

5.       Take a round styrofoam ball for the head. Cut out a little whole in the bottom and glue it onto the stem of the dish soap bottle.

6.       Glue on ears, eyes, nose and make whiskers and glue them on. I cut out an extra piece of material and made a little bonnet with some flowers.

7.       On the skirt a cut out a little piece of lace and made an apron. I also added a little ribbon around the sleeves, apron and the bottom of the skirt.

8.       When you get to the bottom of the skirt, start rolling up your material until it reaches the bottom of your dish soap bottle. Take some needle and thread or use a sewing machine and start making little pockets for your Easter Eggs.

The only thing I had to buy was the styrofoam ball eyes and nose, the rest was scraps of material and old plastic flowers I already had at home. This project is so easy to make and very inexpensive. Why not make some of your own Easter decorations with your children and grandchildren. With all the scraps I have at home this whole project cost under $2.00 to make.  I hope you like my Easter Bunny made from an empty dish soap bottle from Suzie Homemaker.

Crock Pot Potato Soup

                How many of you work long hour and have to come home and cook dinner? If you are like most families this is a job that has to be done on a regular basis. What can I make in a hurry, but still be something the whole family will like. My husband would say whatever you make is fine, but my kids will look at the meal and make a face. Finding meals that everybody will like is very difficult, especially if you have kids. When my schedule doesn’t permit me to make a big meal, I will pull out the crock pot and put something together to be cooked over the day while I am at work. Crock pots are a god send when time is tight to get a meal on the table. This time of the year when it is cold is a great time for soups. So today I will give you an easy crock pot soup recipe that is hearty and healthy.

Crock Pot Potato Soup

                Chicken Broth 4 cups                                   1 ½ cups chopped onions

                5 cups diced russet potatoes                         3 Tablespoons cornstarch

                2 cups shredded American or cheddar cheese

                Spray your crock pot with non-stick spray.

Take 3 ¾ cups of chicken broth and pour into crock pot. Reserve ¼ cup of broth for later. Put your diced potatoes and chopped onions in with your chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. When you get home, take the remaining ¼ cup of broth and beat in your 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch.

Turn your crop pot up to high and pour in your cornstarch and broth mixture and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until soup starts thickening.

Stir in your 2 cups of cheese.

Now you have a delicious soup that is hearty and healthy.

                If you have the time just make this on the stove. Boil your potatoes and onions in the chicken broth for about 1 hour, now add your remaining ¼ cup of chicken broth and mix it with your cornstarch. Add to the soup and boil for about 5 minutes until the juice starts to thicken up. Add your 2 cups of cheese and stir into the soup. Now you have a delicious potato soup in about 2 hours.

                This is so easy to throw together before you go to work in the morning. This takes about 15 minutes to cut up the potatoes and onions and put into the crockpot. Now you can have a warm bowl of soup when you get home in less than 20 minutes. I love making soups this time of the year. I love using my crockpot and I will try to share some of my favorite recipes with you in future blog posts. I hope you like my potato soup recipe from Suzie Homemaker.

St. Patrick's Day Treats for kids and Adults

                It’s almost time for St. Patrick’s Day, and are you Irish and do the Green Day thing? I know it can be fun to wear green clothes and dress up. I hope, you are not one of those people who will go out and drinks over priced green beer. Why not find some fun things to make and drink at home that is the color green.  I have a fun cookie recipe for the children to make and take to school as a treat for St. Patrick’s Day. I also have an adult drink that is green. You can make this drink at home for a lot less than the green drinks you can buy in a bar. Have fun at home for a lot less money and invite your friends over for a St. Patrick’s Day party.

Kids Green 4-Leaf Cookies

                ½ cup Butter                                                          1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla

                ½ cup Shortening                                                 3 ½ cups Flour

                1 cup sugar                                                           1 teaspoon Soda

                3 eggs                                                                     2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar

                Mint extract (to taste)

In a mixing bowl cream together butter, shortening, and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Sift together flour, soda, and cream of tartar. Gradually add dry ingredients to mixture and mix well. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours. Roll out dough on a floured surface.

Take your 4 leaf clover cookie cutter and start cutting out your cookies. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 Degrees.

Cool and frost your cookies green.

                Now it is time for the adult green drink. I will give you the bar recipe and then I will give you my recipe. Today's recipe is for Green Grasshoppers. Here is the bar recipe.

¾ oz. green Crème de Menthe

¾ oz. white Crème de Cacao

¼ fluid oz. heavy cream

1 cup ice

               Take a shaker and mix all ingredients. Enjoy.

                Now it’s time for my version of a Grasshopper drink.

2 cups vanilla ice cream

2 oz. green Crème de Menthe

2 oz. white Crème de Cacao

Place everything in a blender and mix well. If you like chocolate try substituting the 2 cups of vanilla ice cream with 2 cups cookies and cream ice cream. Our family prefers the ice cream over the heavy cream and ice. Making these drinks at home is so much cheaper than going out to a bar. Plus making these cookies at home is cheaper than buying them in the grocery store. The kids can have fun cutting out the cookies and frosting them, while the adults can enjoy a Grasshopper drink. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Suzie Homemaker.

                

Raising Children who Give Back

                Today I want to talk about charity giving. How do we teach our children to give back to their community or other charitable organizations? There has been a lot of talk through the school systems about if community service should be a requirement. I would say yes because community service teaches children how to give back to their local community and beyond. When I was growing up I helped out with a lot of programs and never got paid for them. So I decided to write a blog post on different ways to give back to your local community and beyond.   Your children need to learn what it means to give back and not expect to get paid for it.

                When I was growing up I used to help out a lot at our church. I helped with church rummage sales, Chili supper, I taught Sunday School, I baby sat in the church nursery and did car washes. Churches are a great way to volunteer and give back.

                Christmas is a great time to ring bells for charities. In our community, we have a special day at the library for a secret Santa gift buy. Low-income children can come and pick out gifts at a low price and the helper wrap and help them pick out gifts. Try going Christmas caroling to shut in members of your church or local nursing homes and sing Christmas Carols. This is another great way to give back.

                Even when you get older you can still give back. I volunteered my time for 5 years and was a Girl Scout Helper while my oldest daughter was in Girl Scouts. During that time we taught the girls many ways to give back to their local community. Every year in September we had a Crafty Apple Fest, the girls would do face painting and beading, and other art work for a day for free. This was how they earned their Bronze Award that year. Giving back can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Every year the kids look forward to the face painting from the Girl Scouts. Our Girl Scout troop also did a dress exchange one year. They asked everybody to donate their used prom dresses.  The whole school then had a chance to pick out a used prom dress from somebody else. This saved a lot of money on a new dress they did not have to buy. The girls did not even realize that they were giving back to their community.

                Another great way to give back is to volunteer at a local food pantry. Since we live on a farm and raise chickens we have extra sometimes.  Two to three times a year I donate eggs to the local food pantry. Once a year our local community hands out plastic bags for food and the local Boy Scouts come and pick the food up and donate it to the local food pantry.

Take the time to talk to your children about charitable giving. Explain to them how important it is to give back. You never know if some day you might be on the receiving end of that giving.  Volunteering and giving back is a very rewarding experience. If your children see you giving back, hopefully, this will teach them to also give back. Explain to your children the importance of giving back to their community and beyond. Teaching your children from little on about giving and volunteering their time is very important. I hope some of these ideas will help you and your children to give back, From Suzie Homemaker.