You may remember last week when I talked about Champion for Kids Jennie-O Make the Switch Challenge and how I had given up buying chips for the month of May.   The whole challenge is about giving up something that is not really healthy and switching it for something healthier.  Then you can use the money you save to donate to kids in need.

This week,  since I am well into this challenge, I decided to make my own chips!  It is much healthier and saves money! I was on a quest to figure out how to make Sour Cream and Onion flavored Veggie Chips and I think I got pretty close.  It isn’t exact, but I think it is good!

I took regular potatoes, sweet potatoes and zuchinni and sliced them thinly with my new mandoline from Wal-Mart (only $10.00)!

I then created my own recipe for Sour Cream and Onion seasoning.  This was the hard part, but I found powdered buttermilk which tastes an awful lot like powdered sour cream!  I also added some Parmesan to round out the flavor.

I put the sliced potatoes onto a microwave safe dish covered with parchment paper.  When it came time to cook them, I put the flavoring into a small mesh strainer because the mixture tends to clump up… Then I just sprinkled the chips while scraping my spoon across the strainer.   Then I just zapped em in the microwave for about 5 minutes and they came out crispy and a yummy sour cream and onion flavor!  Something I am now told that I will have to make often.

 These are so good… It’s a good thing they are good for you!  Just the sweet potatoes alone have more than enough Vitamin A for the day!

 I garnished these with some chives and I think they are even more delicious than a bag of the fried kind!

Come back this weekend when I will show you what I am doing with the money that I have saved!

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

For the last several weeks I have been baking like crazy.  I am not really sure why (other than my sweet tooth), but I think you’ll be glad that I did!  This recipe stemmed from my love of Cookie Dough and a recipe that I shared a few weeks ago for a “Not-So-Raw” cookie dough that uses microwaved flour to reduce the chance of food poisoning.  I had been noticing a lot of recipes with cookie dough in them and decided it was time to come up with one of my own.  Then the Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars were born… so without further ado I bring them to you!  (see recipe at bottom of page)

This is actually 3 recipes in one, but I tried to make it as simple as possible.  The first layer is  a Betty Crocker Brownie Mix.  I used the smaller bagged size and spread it out on parchment lined 9X13 pan.  I just mixed according to the directions and spread it out.  The parchment is there to ensure that the cheesecake layer comes out clean and I would recommend this step.

The next layer is the chocolate cheesecake.  It’s just a simple cheesecake recipe, but I used about half of usual recipes like this.

I just poured the cheesecake on top of the brownie layer with some chocolate chips and baked it for 45 minutes and let it rest in the oven for 2 hours.

Next came the Cookie Dough!  I just made the exact recipe that I had made before using the cooked flour, but I had to make twice the amount to get it to spread over the whole top.   When it came time to serve the brownies I Drizzled some chocolate chips that I melted in the microwave with a little bit of coconut oil on top.  Are you drooling yet?

This is so decadent and delicious.  Someone said that it should be called “Triple Threat”… I agree!

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

It was a wonderful weekend filled with lots of love from my littles for Mother’s Day.  I hope you had a great one too celebrating the mothers in your life or maybe someone celebrating you!

There were so many projects linked up… so I went through them and started picking out some awesome DIY projects… Here they are:

This fabulous Happy Little Chair makeover really does make you in a cheerful mood just looking at it!  So cute from Stacey at Embracing Change!

I love all the Spring Decor that By the Way Jenn Gray has used to freshen up her space for spring!  So pretty and I love the pearl balls… gorgeous!

This beautiful Sweetheart Dress was made byLiz at Howling At the Moon.  I LOVE the heart cut out in the back… so pretty!

This Star Struck- Tabletop Quilt looks amazing from Wendy at Late to Create!  Such a dedicated artist she is!

Oh I want some of this Freezer Strawberry Jam from Southern Lovely.  Go check out her post about going to the Strawberry Patch too!

These Amazing Chocolate Toffee bars look so good and are easy to make from Brilliant Like Fireflies.

Thanks for linking up at the party this weekend!  I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to grab an “I was Featured” button from my sidebar if I featured you here… you deserve it!

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

I saw this picture and for some reason I was thinking that this cow was looking pretty buff for a milk cow…LOL.  So this senerio is what came into my head and I just had to share!  BTW I have no intentions of becoming a script writer… and I am certain that this is very corny and lame, but welcome to my world!

Cow Creamer  from Pier One

Here is how the discussion between Bessie and Bluebell went down today (imagine in your best southern drawl):

Bessie: Did you see that cow creamer that they are displaying in the stores these days?

Bluebell:  No, I haven’t noticed any lately.

Bessie: Well,  let me tell you!  It’s a creamer shaped like a cow and it is all the rage.  The only thing is,  the cow they chose to be the model was certainly not a milk cow! I mean come on.  We all know how cows look after having a calf and udder- feeding.  It’s such an unreal portrayal of real cow life.

Bluebell: Uh huh… I know what you mean!  Humans want us all buff looking for the cameras and yet  they still want all our milk to drink up.  I’ve got calves AND humans to feed.  I don’t have time to be lookin’ all buff.  Don’t you think they could cut us some slack?

Bessie: Yeah!  I think I will eat some more clovers now.  I’m starvin’.  (Chew, Chew, Cud, Cud)

Bluebell: You go on Bessie- You deserve an extra helpin’ of clover today.  I think I will eat some more too.  (Chew, Chew, Cud, Cud).

Isn’t that how we all feel sometimes?  Hollywood is just not real life folks.  Plain and simple.. even for cows!  Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

It’s time again for Project Party Weekend… I have some great projects to show off from last week’s party here:

First up… This Remote Control Tray really caught my “eye”!  So pretty and useful!  Go see how Taylor at “Sew Much Love” made this cute tray!

This Avocado Frosting looks amazing from “Crazy for Crust“!   I really wan to try this now!

I guess that I am all about the desserts today… Here is  a wonderful Decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from Heather at “A Cupcake Love Affair“.  Oh this looks good!

These Little Man Cookies are too cute from Jami at “The Blackberry Vine“!  This would be perfect for a boy birthday party!

Another great craft that I found was this Burlap wrapped Flower Pot from Kim at “Too Much Time on My Hands!“

I am just in love with all these ideas… I have hard time just choosing one a week to make myself.  This week was a little different for me- too busy really and I didn’t have time to make one of your projects myself!  I guess some weeks will be that way though… Hopefully next week I will get more downtime!   I also have lots of recipes coming up!!! yay!

Now it is your turn… Show off what you have been up to this week!

Remember these guidelines to make this fun for everyone:

1.  Become a follower of BNC

2. grab one of my buttons to put on your post or on your blog somewhere (A text link is ok too)

3. comment on other projects that are linked up

I hope you enjoy the party!!!

{links are shown randomly… so no one is always on the top! yay!}

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

I am so excited about this picture frame!  I think it turned out super cute!!!  I thought of making this frame because we have a small wall by our front door that was looking very plain.  I thought that a new picture frame would really make the space pop!  Plus I always look for ways to display all the pretty portraits I have of my girls!  ;)

I wanted to make sure that it matched with the rest of my living room decor, so I knew that I would be painting the frame.  That is where the Elmer’s Painters Paint Markers came in very handy!  Creating this frame took no time at all and was so easy!!!  My oldest daughter was able to help me paint with the paint markers too!

To create this frame yourself you will need:

Elmer’s Painters Paint Markers in your choice of colors (easily found in a variety of colors at Walmart)

Un-finished Wooden Picture Frame

Acrylic Paint for painting the outer frame

Wooden butterfly (or your choice) cut outs

 To find all of my supplies I headed out to Walmart.  I was very impressed with the selection of individual colors that they had.  Up until a week ago, I thought that all Elmer’s Painters Paint Markers were sold in packages, but then I found all the individual colors too!!!  At only $1.97 I wanted to buy the whole range of them, but I contained myself.  Also I noticed that they had 3 tip options… chisel tip, medium tip and fine tip!

I was also able to find SO many unfinished wood pieces that were just waiting to be painted!!!  I chose this super cute hanging picture frame!

First, I painted the frame with a mixture of Acrylic paints (in the bottle) and regular house paint.  When I made- over my living room this is what I did to achieve the light blue color so that is why I used house paint with it, but using Acrylic only is fine too.

 Next… my daughter and I painted some wooden butterfly cut- outs with our Elmer’s Painters Paint Markers.  I feel fine letting my daughter help me since these paint markers are non toxic and 100% Acrylic paint!  The paint in these markers dries very quickly (almost immediately) and the application was very smooth!  I can’t imagine trying to paint these now with Acrylic paint and a paint brush… this was SO much easier!  

My daughter is (less than a month shy of) 7 and very artistic… so painting these was a breeze for her!

We painted the butterflies in 3 varieties of colors in 3 different shape sizes.

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

This month I am making a healthy switch and the money that I save by not eating an un-healthy food will be donated as a part of the Champions For Kids Jennie-O Make the Switch Challenge!  It was not an easy thing for me to decide on because my family generally eats pretty healthy.  I know that I post a lot of delicious desserts on my blog, but we really don’t indulge in them as often as it seems.  We also are not pop (soda/ coke) drinkers.  I got to thinking a little more and then realized that there is one thing I know we could eat a lot less of… and that is chips!

(while post processing I made note of how incredibly ORANGE these things are!)

Welcome to the Snackmosphere! LOL  Do you know what the “Snackmosphere” is?  It is the air that escapes when you open a bag of chips or other “Junk Food”.   The Doritos in the pic above definitely have the Snackmosphere going for them, but they REALLY lack in the nutrition department.  I see no point in trying to demonize a particular food, but I think there needs to be clear lines drawn when it comes to foods that have more chemical names (that I can’t pronounce) than REAL ingredients.   A typical bag of Nacho Flavored Doritos contains a bunch of ingredients including mono-sodium glutamate and partially hydrogenated oils.   This may be okay once every few months in moderation, but I noticed that we have been buying chips like these much more often than this!

pic source Mission Mid Del facebook

I won’t be buying any chips for the month of May!   Instead, the money that I will save by not buying chips, will be going to the Mission Mid-Del (also known as Master’s Market) a food and clothing pantry  in Midwest City, OK.

pic source Mission Mid Del facebook

This food pantry is very near and dear to my heart because it was started by the church that I grew up in.  It all began in 1992 when Meadowood Baptist Church decided to take the church outside of its walls and start ministering to the apartment complexes near them. As they ministered under the name Mission Mid-Del, they  realized the great need some had for food and clothing.

pic source Mission Mid Del facebook

 In 1993 Mission Mid Del was able to open up Master’s Market to provide food for the hungry and clothes for the needy.  They are still going strong and providing the much needed assistance to many in my hometown.  I am excited to be able to give a food donation from the money I save not eating chips to this worthy cause!   It makes not eating Doritos for a month (something I should do anyway) a much more exciting thing!   I realized that we could save up to $30.00/ month by getting rid of the chip habit… amazing!   I decided to spend a little more than that, but saving that $30.00 is a good start.  When purchasing the food I noticed all the healthy Jennie-O products that are available.  Many kids don’t get a good source of protein and so I made sure I included these healthy meats in my shopping trip.

 I just love the Jennie-O Turkey Burgers… great for the grill and as easy as opening up the package!

 Jennie-O has great prices for ground turkey.  I found these 1 pounders for just under #3.00!

 You may wonder what turkey ham tastes like, but it tastes surprisingly just like ham.   We love it!!!   You can see the rest of my shopping trip on Google Plus!

Will you join me in making a healthy switch and donating healthy foods  to a local food pantry?   Together we can all make a difference… In fact, Champions for Kids is on a Mission to which is helping mobilize millions of people across America and beyond  to be a force for good in their communities.  The goal is to mobilize 20 million people by 2020!  There is no better time to join in on the Champions for Kids than now!

(a shot I got of the “Super Moon”!)

I don’t know about you, but I want to make a difference… even if it is small I just want to do my part.  I was noticing the amazing “Super Moon” last night and it got me to thinking about how small I am, but that I serve a big God in which helps me to be a part of big things.   I truly believe that by serving our communities we will see just how much of an impact we can really have!   I hope you can join us in this Make the Switch.  Share below how you will be helping out or something that you are already a part of in your community!

To find out more please visit these sites!

• Champions for Kids Website
• @Champions4kidsTwitter
• Champions for Kids Facebook
• Jennie-O Website 
• Jennie-O CFK Project Card

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #JennieOCFK #CBias #SocialFabric” All Opinions are my own!”

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

So… this recipe was actually linked up 2 weeks ago, but I kept thinking about it and decided that I NEEDED to make it!   The original recipe is by The Pioneer Woman and Kristin from Homespun with Love made this and posted it to her blog.

Her picture- OH SO YUMMY!!!

 After seeing her picture of the Olive Cheese Bread I knew that I had to make it, but then I decided that this might be a more than once in a while treat… so I made it Reduced Fat and added Artichokes!!!  We all know that the Pioneer Woman loves butter (which I do too), but unlike her… I wasn’t given the genes to be able to handle that kind of eating on a daily basis.  Here is my own recipe tweeked a little bit to make it much lower in fat!!!  (I totally recommend making the original too – use the links above to see that recipe!)  The original recipe contains 1 stick of butter and I totally omitted this… saving over 1000 calories!!!

Olive Artichoke Cheese Bread

 This is amazingly yummy… Thank you, Kristen, for sharing this awesome recipe with us!!!

Now it is your turn… Show off what you have been up to this week!

Remember these guidelines to make this fun for everyone:

1.  Become a follower of BNC

2. grab one of my buttons to put on your post or on your blog somewhere (A text link is ok too)

3. comment on other projects that are linked up

I hope you enjoy the party!!!

{links are shown randomly… so no one is always on the top! yay!}

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made

If you know me well you know that I love photography.  I love learning more and more about this art and I enjoy taking lots of photos.  One area that I am particularly weak in is Food Photography.  I do take lots of pictures of food and most of them are great, but there are some that don’t look appealing at all and I always wonder why that is.

Well I won’t be wondering much longer because I am enrolled in the Social Fabric University for Food Photography by Sony!   This is a part of the Social Fabric Community that I am a part of.

I have come a long way since I first started blogging.  My food photos used to look much like this:

Here are some of my more recent photos: I think they have improved a lot!

 yummy…

You can see the recipe for the Cake Batter Ice Cream Cupcakes here!

 I am so excited about this class because it will take my photography to the next level!  This class will take us though all the basics and include 6 weeks worth of information about background, lighting, props, software, styling and much much more.    I can’t wait to show you all what I have learned as you know I will do!   

I hope to be as good as my favorite foodie bloggers like Annie’s Eats and the Pioneer Woman.   Both of their food photos make me want to crawl into my computer and eat whatever it is that they photographed.   Or even to the level of Taste of Home Magazine or the Food Network Magazine.

 The Pioneer Woman : I think the very first time I got interested in Food Photography was when I was looking (drooling) over the Pioneer Woman’s photos.  I love how she takes you through the whole process of cooking from beginning to end. I like how she captures the movement of the ingredients as they are being poured into the pot.   By the time I finish reading her post I am ready to eat!

 Annie’s Eats : I love this website.  Not only are her photos yummy looking, but they are perfectly propped every time.  She always has something unique to display along with the photos and the perfect background without being too distracting.

As far as Professional Photographers are concerned:

 Taste Of Home  is a big inspiration of mine. I used to get a subscription to that Magazine, but now I find plenty of their recipes online on their website.  The photos they display always look so fresh!   I can tell that they sometimes use studio lighting, but it never looks too fake.

 Food Network Magazine and Website   I just love the Food Network and the Magazine and Website have a lot to offer as far as photos. They are always perfectly plated and photographed at the right angle.  The Photos on there seem to just come off the page/ screen.  They are just perfect and this is what I hope to learn how to do in this class!!!

Both of these magazine have what I call the perfect food photos… They just look perfect!!  I want to have the knowledge to be that good!!!

So what about you?  Is there something photography related that you want to improve on?  Let me know here!!!

Bubbly Nature Creations - Making Home Home-Made