Easy Easter Treats

Happy Easter! Easter is a time to spend with family and friends, so today I want to give you a very easy recipe to make.  This would be a nice recipe to make and take as a sweet dessert after your Easter dinner. This recipe has only four ingredients and your children or grandchildren can help make these sweet treats. This whole recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make.

What you will need

1 large cookie sheet                                         1 kettle

1 spoon for stirring                                           1 knife for cutting your pieces

Graham Pralines

24 graham cracker squares                              1 Cup Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar                                         1 to 1 ½ Cups of Peanuts or any other nut you like

1.       On an ungreased 15 by 10-inch pan place broken up graham crackers pieces on the pan until the whole pan is covered, about 24 whole crackers. Set aside.

2.     

  Next, bring 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes until it thickens up

.

3.    

   Stir in your 1 to 1 ½ cups of peanuts into your caramel sauce.

4.     

  Pour your sauce with the peanuts over your graham crackers and spread it out.

5.      

Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

6.      

Take out and immediately and cut into little pieces. I just cut along the lines of the crackers for an easy cut.

7.     

  Let cool and place on waxed paper so they do not stick together. Enjoy!

These pralines are so easy to make and very delicious. Your children and grandchildren will love to help make and eat these. Make Easter a special day with your family with these sweet treats. Have a Happy Easter from Suzie Homemaker.

Dehydrating Celery

How many of you love celery, especially ants on a log? Eating celery is a nice healthy snack but, it does not last very long in the refrigerator. How many times have you thrown out your celery because it is getting limp or soft? Today I want to show you how to save your celery instead of throwing it away and wasting half or more of it.

Last week one of my husband’s employees was going to throw her celery out, but I said I would take it and use it for soups. She asked me why I would want limp celery? I said I would dehydrate it and use it later when I was going to make soups.

Today I will show you how I Dehydrate celery.

1.       First, bring out your dehydrator and place one tray on the bottom with your fruit roll-up tray. This will be the tray that catches anything that falls through as you are dehydrating your cut up celery.

2.       Cut off any ends that are dark. Start slicing your celery thin and cutting into little pieces. Do not throw out the leaves these can be cut up and dehydrated along with your celery pieces.

3.     

  Place your second tray on top of your empty tray with the fruit roll-up insert on it. Place your cut up pieces of celery and leaves around the tray.

4.      

My heat source is on top so, I put another empty tray on top of my full tray of celery. This will prevent any celery getting caught in the motor and wreaking your machine.

5.      

When your celery and leaves are very dry to the touch and can be crunched, you can then place the dried celery and leaves in an airtight zip-lock bag or an airtight container. Always check your dehydrator for temperature and about how much time it will take to dehydrate your celery.

I hate to waste food so when this employee wanted to just throw it away I decided to take it home and dehydrate it. I will take it into work and show her what I have done with the leftover food she wanted to throw away. I always try to find a way to preserve my leftovers or use them instead of wasting food and throwing it away. Now I will have celery for soups for a while without having to go buy it from the store.

I hope you enjoy this very easy way to preserve wilting celery from Suzie Homemaker.

Edible Easter Bunnies

Today I want to show you how to make a fun Easter treat the whole family will love. This would be a great project for your children or Grandchildren to make. When my children were younger we made these to take to school for an Easter treat.

Edible Easter Bunnies

1.      

First, you need to boil some eggs.

2.       Let your eggs cool before peeling them.

3.       Cut them in half and take out the yoke.

4.       Put the yoke in a little dish and mash and add Miracle Whip, just like you are making deviled eggs.

5.       Take some small carrot sticks and slice them thin.

6.       Take some green of purple grapes and cut them in half.

7.       Grate up any variety of cheese, just a small amount.

There are two ways to make these edible Easter Bunnies and I will show you how to make both of them.

1.       First, cut your eggs in half and take out the yoke.

2.       Turn the egg upside down.

3.       Place your sliced carrots under the eggs for the ears.

4.       Place the cut in half grapes on the egg for eyes.

5.       Take a few pieces of grated cheese and make whiskers below the eyes.

Now you have an edible Easter Bunny.

 You can use just about any fruit or vegetable for your eyes and ears.

The second Edible Easter Bunny is a little different and uses the yoke made like a deviled egg.

1.       First, cut your egg in half and take out the yoke.

2.       Take the yoke and smash it up and add your Miracle Whip.

3.       Taking the mashed egg and Miracle whip put it inside your egg facing up.

4.       Take your sliced carrots for ears and stick them into the very top of your mashed eggs with Miracle Whip.

5.       Place your cut in half grapes just below the ears for your eyes.

6.       Take some of your grated cheese and make whiskers just below your eyes.

Now you have the second edible Easter Bunny.

Easter is a time to get together with family and friends, why not make it fun for the whole family. These edible Easter Bunnies took less than 30 minutes to make. Wouldn’t these be fun to place on the table at Easter for a nice decoration? Have your children or grandchildren help make these and let them get creative with the fruits and vegetables. I hope you like my edible Easter Bunnies from Suzie Homemaker.

Bread Machines

Today I want to talk about loaves of bread, not just loaves of bread from the store or frozen bread, bread made from a bread machine. How many loaves of bread do you buy each week, 1, 2 or more? With a family of 4, we go through 2 to 3 loaves of bread a week. When you buy these many loaves of bread, every week this can really add up fast. Depending on if you buy white bread, wheat bread or any other bread you could be spending anywhere from $4 to $10 dollars a week alone just on bread.

This last week I decided to do some research on bread machines on Amazon.com. I was amazed at the price differences and the machines available. My first decision was on what size bread loaves I wanted and what features I wanted. Then I looked at prices, name brands, and reviews. I only looked at bread machines with 4 to 5-star ratings. This really brought the selection down to a couple of bread machines to pick from. Always check the star ratings and read the reviews you would be surprised at how people will give you their honest opinions.

The reason I am talking about bread machines is that I use to have one but it finally after 20 years decided to die on me. My whole family missed homemade bread and the cost of buying bread from the store was getting a little high. Since I do surveys online this is how I paid for my new bread machine. The upfront cost of a bread machine can be expensive but in the long run, it will pay for itself in no time at all. You can buy a 10# bag of flour for under $4 dollars and the bread machine yeast for under $3 dollars. You can make a fresh loaf of bread for pennies compared to dollars.

The bread machine I picked out was not a name brand machine, but it still had a 5-star rating. I spent just under $100 dollars for this machine and so far I have had great results.

I have made 1 loaf of wheat bread, 1 loaf of white Bread, and one pizza dough with great success.

This machine has extra features that I really love, like delayed setting to start your bread at any time you like, a keep warm setting to keep your bread warm for up to 1 hour. This bread machine is so quiet, you hardly know it is on and working. The bread machine I picked out is from Tobox.com.

This bread machine is an investment, so make sure you will be using it a lot or it will not be worth it. I like to find ways to save money on the food we eat and this is just another way to save. Bread is expensive in the store why not make some homemade bread that your whole family will love. Do your research before you buy a bread machine and decide on the one that best fits your needs.

Enjoy some homemade bread from Suzie Homemaker.