Spiced Apple Magic Bars

I've been seeing all over the place these magic bars recipes--where you create a crust with a cake mix, then add toppings, then pour sweetened condensed milk all over it. This combo creates a yummy cookie like bar...everyone I know (at least, a bunch of bloggers) have been raving over these recipes. I even pinned a compilation from Crazy for Crust with a bunch of magic bar recipes.

But I then I got some granny smith apples in my produce basket. And I decided I wanted an apple magic bar...but I couldn't find one that was simple enough for me...so I made it up!

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix
1 stick of butter, melted
1 egg
1 can sweetened condensed milk (or substitute 1/3 cup evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, and 3 tbsp butter that has been heated until all the ingredients are dissolved...which is what I did since we were out of sweetened condensed milk)
2 granny smith apples, cored and sliced
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix, melted butter, and egg. You can get a child helper to do this part.

But be prepared to help, since the batter will be thick.

Press the batter into a greased 9x13 dish.

Place sliced apples on the batter, then sprinkle with nuts. Pour sweeten condensed milk over everything.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. The batter will rise up into the apples.

Enjoy the spiced apple yumminess.

Sometimes I link up at the following places: 504 Main, A Diamond in the Stuff, Alderberry Hill, At the Picket Fence, Beyond the Picket Fence, Cherished Bliss, Classy Clutter, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-o-maniac, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Eat at Home, Finding Fabulous, Gingersnap Crafts, Glued to My Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, House of Hepworths, House of Rose, I Heart Naptime, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Made in a Day, My Favorite Finds,  Not Just a Housewife, One Creative Mommy, Organizing Junkie, Semi Homemade Mom, Serenity Now, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Six Sisters Stuff, So You Think You're Crafty, Someday Crafts, Sugarbee Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, The 36th Avenue, The Frugal Girls, The Grant Life,  The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Today's Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs,  and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Menu Planning Monday 2013-06-17

Last week was another crazy week. Lil Bit came down with a random fever bug that lasted about 24 hours, but it threw my dinner planning for a loop since she didn't have any appetite. By the end of the week I was serving things just to try to tempt her to eat. Good thing she's feeling much better this weekend, and I feel like we can start to serve a bigger variety of things.

Monday: Grilled Tilapia, Corn, and Fruit
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner

Wednesday: Crockpot Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas) 

Thursday: Apple Sausage Bean Hash

Friday: Burgers on the Grill
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Chicken on the Grill, Sugar Snap Peas, Bread, Fruit

What are you eating this week?

Sometimes I link up at the following places: 504 Main, A Diamond in the Stuff, Alderberry Hill, At the Picket Fence, Beyond the Picket Fence, Cherished Bliss, Classy Clutter, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-o-maniac, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Eat at Home, Finding Fabulous, Gingersnap Crafts, Glued to My Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, House of Hepworths, House of Rose, I Heart Naptime, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Made in a Day, My Favorite Finds,  Not Just a Housewife, One Creative Mommy, Organizing Junkie, Semi Homemade Mom, Serenity Now, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Six Sisters Stuff, So You Think You're Crafty, Someday Crafts, Sugarbee Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, The 36th Avenue, The Frugal Girls, The Grant Life,  The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Today's Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs,  and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Fairy Garden Terrarium--A #MiracleGroProject #ad

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Recently, I've been looking for ways to help my daughters understand how plants grow. The only problem is in my house, plants tend to have a short life span. We have plants outside, but not inside because our cats try to eat everything!

When I checked out Miracle-Gro's The Gro Project , I was excited to see the perfect project for growing some plants inside. This is a compilation of fun garden projects that are easy to start and maintain. Here's a little more information about The Gro Project:

The Toyarium project caught my eye, in particular. You see, since we came back from Walt Disney World, all my daughters have been fascinated with Tinkerbell. I think that in the past 4 weeks, we have watched each of the 4 Tinkerbell movies 4 or 5 times. I may be able to quote them all in a couple more weeks if this keeps up. Lil Bit has long loved Tinkerbell (we have a lot of Tinkerbell decor in her room) but the twins started their fascination about Tinkerbell after they met her at Magic Kingdom.

But a terrarium using toys...this would incorporate my daughters' fascination with fairies and an opportunity to have plants in the house--and protecting them from the cats. So I'm calling my version of the Toyarium...The Fairy Garden Terrarium. The best part--my 5 year old was able to help me make this!

You need the following:

Succulents or cacti

Glass container (like a fish bowl or a vase)

Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix

Plastic Toys (I used fairies--Tinkerbell and Terrence that we had on hand)

Rocks (I used some glass and other pebbles I had on hand)

Also, you might want to think about how to "accessorize"--things to make pretend grass or garden paths

Here's how you make it:

• Cover the bottom of the container with a layer of rocks.

• Fill it about 1/3 full with potting mix.

• Use the spoon to plant succulents in the potting mix, adding more mix to create your landscape. You want to kind of clump the plants together so that you can place your toys in the next step.

• Set the scene with your toys. We added some green glass chips to look like grass (and be sparkly), but you could do anything to accessorize! Sprinkling the glass chips was the perfect task for my five-year-old.
• Be careful not to overwater! Succulents don't need much water at all. Use a spritzer to moisten only when it gets very dry. The Moisture Control Potting Mix is perfect to keep control of the moisture...and help out when I forget to water the plants, since it's been a while since we hosted a house plant! I love that this potting mix has plant food in it too, but when it's time to feed those fairy plants again. we'll use some Shake’n Feed All Purpose Plant Food to keep them looking like they just came from Pixie Hollow!
• Watch as your children immediately are drawn to this terrarium--I had to keep reminding the twins that they shouldn't touch  the glass vase as they jabbered away at Tinkerbell and Terrence!

I loved all of the ideas that I found at Miracle-Gro's facebook and pinterest pages. If you're looking at a way to inexpensively start a new garden story, this is definitely a resource you should check out. Also, if you're looking to research how to take care of your plants, check out the Miracle-Gro website, too--they have the answers you need to solve garden problems and find all the right products to suit your needs.

Enjoy!

Paper Doily Tile Coasters

This post was originally shared over at My Favorite Finds, but I thought you'd love to see these too.

I love coasters. However, I love them so much that we have way too many of them. I've been holding on to these tiles for a while now, wanting to make coasters out of them, but I just couldn't justify making them for our house. I decided to give them to my daughter's pre-K teachers as a thank you gift at her graduation, so I'm now able to share this project with you.

I know that there are a lot of coaster ideas out there using tile, but instead of using the tile as a base that you cover up, I wanted to showcase the pretty colored tile that you can find out there.

Here's what you need:

Scrapbook paper cut into pretty shapes (I used my Silhouette Portrait to combine some doily shapes straight from their online store, but you can cut shapes out by hand
Glazed wall tile in pretty colors, 4"x4" size
Mod Podge
Brush
Some kind of sealer--I used acrylic gloss gel medium, but you can use spray sealant, too. (not shown)
Cork pads--used to keep furniture scratching the floor. I got a 36-pack from the dollar store

Arrange the paper on the tiles in a manner that is pleasing to you. Spread mod podge thinly on the back of the paper, and then adhere to the tile. Try to keep any bubbles from forming.

After it is dry, you can trim with scissors or an X-acto blade. Then you will want to do several thin coats of sealer on the whole top. This will help protect the paper.

Place 4 cork pads on the bottom of the tile.

And that's it! I think we're going to use these as teacher appreciation gifts at my daughter's pre-K graduation. Maybe we'll make a tag that says "Thanks to you, I'll 'coast' through next year" or something like that. What do you think? Too corny?

Sometimes I link up at the following places: 504 Main, A Diamond in the Stuff, AKA Design, Alderberry Hill, At the Picket Fence, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blessed with Grace, Cherished Bliss, Classy Clutter, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-o-maniac, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Eat at Home, Finding Fabulous, Gingersnap Crafts, Glued to My Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, House of Hepworths, I Heart Naptime, It's So Very Cheri, Lil Luna, Lines Across, Live Laugh Rowe, Made in a Day, Madigan Made, My Favorite Finds,  Not Just a Housewife, One Creative Mommy, Organizing Junkie, Positively Splendid, Semi Homemade Mom, Serenity Now, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Six Sisters Stuff, Smart School House, So I Married a Craft Blogger, So You Think You're Crafty, Someday Crafts, Sugarbee Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, The 36th Avenue, The Finer Things in Life, The Frugal Girls, The Grant Life,  The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Today's Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs,  and Under the Table and Dreaming.