Watermelon Cookies

Summer is fast approaching, and with it returns it's delicious, seasonal fruit. Here's a fun way to present the quintessential summer fruit, watermelon, to the kiddies.

You'll need:
watermelon
favorite cookie cutters

Cut a circular slice of water.



Remove the rind.

Using the cookie cutters, cut out shapes from the watermelon.

Enjoy!
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Family Pack to Strawberry Festival for $12

Go Bananas for Soft, Glowing Skin!

For some reason, my household just can't seem to finish off an entire bunch of bananas before the bananas become too ripe. I dutifully make banana bread/muffins out of the remaining few pieces of fruit, but yesterday, (probably due to the fact that I already have a bag full of said muffins in my freezer), I just didn't feel like baking.

I also didn't feel like wasting these banana either.

You don't have to eat a banana to take advantage of its vitamins. You can also mash it up and put it on your face.

Banana Honey Mask

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp honey
• splash of milk (optional)

Mash the banana in a bowl, add honey and mix. Add a splash of milk if mask is too thick. Apply to face and wait 10 min before washing it off. There is enough mask for multiple faces or you can apply to your hands and feet as well. (The latter is a perfect excuse to watch tv and have hubby mind the kids.) Prepare to feel a difference in your skin immediately.

You can spend $20, $30, or more for a tube of chemicals to achieve, (at best), the same results or you can make this mask for pennies.

Enjoy!

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SocialLiving Deal - You know me, I'm always looking for some fun, cheap place to take the kiddies. For those living in the DC Metro area, I'm sure you've heard of the annual Strawberry Festival at the Briggs Chaney-Greencastle Farmers and Artisans' Market. A family pack of tickets includes 2 adult tickets, 2 children's tickets, a 4-item brunch sampler, 2 pony rides for the kids, and a $5 market coupon. The bundle will normally set you back $25 dollars, but click on the link below to get it for only $12.

Family Pack to Strawberry Festival for $12

What's for Dinner?

If you have a second freezer, it probably looks a lot like mine - each shelf stocked with frozen foods stacked on top of each other, with no discernible way to tell what is actually there. Here's a quick, easy way to keep on top of what you have stored away. Buy some white board markers, (I got 3 for a $1 at my local dollar store), and on the door simply list the contents of the freezer.

I color coded my list to make it easier for me when I scan for a particular item. I used a black pen to write down bread items, red for meat, and blue for everything else. Going forward, I'll also write down the date of when I buy these items. If you're not able to write on the actually face of the freezer, you can always buy a small white board and attach it to the freezer.

Enjoy!

Easter Egg Chicks II

Here's another cute way to present all those hard-boiled eggs you've made this week. You'll also need a little carrot, a little plum, and your favorite deviled eggs recipe.

Cut the tops off your hard-boiled eggs and set them aside. Cut a silver off the bottom of the eggs in order to make the stand easier.

Scoop out the yolks. Do this carefully because the whites of the eggs can rip easily.

Devil the yokes and add back into the egg. Put the top of the egg back on. Shave a carrot and cut out beaks for your chickies. Use a bit of plum peel for the eyes. (You can use anything dark you have in the kitchen, olives for example.)

You can present your chickies on a bed of lettuce of a nest of pretzels.

Enjoy!

Easter Egg Chicks & How to Make Perfect Boiled Eggs

Easter brings with it baskets of hard boiled eggs; here's a cute way to serve those eggs to the kiddies.

Peel your Easter Eggs.

Cut egg in half and slice off the ends of egg white so the eggs sit flat and do not roll around.

Cut little triangles for the chick's beak out of cheese. I used black sesame seeds for the eyes. You can also use poppy seeds.

Sprinkle the chicks with salt and serve to the kiddies. You can make a more grown up version by deviling the eggs and adding a drop of yellow food coloring before adding the "beak" and "eyes".

Overcooking the hard boiled eggs will cause that ugly gray ring to appear around the yolk of the egg.

Over cooked eggs.

Your chickies will not look cute sporting that look. In case you don't know the trick to boiling the perfect eggs, see below.

Put eggs in pot, cover with 1" cold water. Boil.

Once the water starts boiling, take the pot off the heat and cover pot. Let sit 12 minutes.

After 12 min, carefully put eggs in a bowl of cold water. Be careful, eggs will be very hot.

Enjoy!