DIY Easter Egg Wreath!

It's Easter time and Wreath Wednesday is here again! What better way to greet your guests than with this awesome Easter Egg Wreath on your front door?

 Made out of plastic Easter eggs, it is easy to make and easy on the wallet! It doesn't get much better than that!

Every door deserves a wreath! Inside and out, in my opinion. Although simple, this wreath packs a punch with it's bright colors and looks like something you would pay big bucks for at a store.

I love Easter! I think all the pretty colors are part of the reason why I love the holiday so much. Well, that and the candy! After a long, cold, and dark winter, bright pops of color and pastels are a very welcome sight!
 

Here's what you'll need:

 

 Plastic Easter Eggs (in whatever color scheme you like!)

A foam wreath

A hot glue gun

I probably used about 100 eggs. I'm all about bright rainbows of colors, but an ombre color scheme would be cool or even speckled bird eggs!

Just start gluing your eggs onto the wreath! Use a dot of hot glue on the part of the egg that will touch the wreath (generally, where the two halves meet.) You will need to hold them in place for a few minutes until the glue hardens. Try to get them as close together as you can, so as little of the wreath shows as possible. That's the toughest part of this craft!

Just keep gluing! I tried to keep all the eggs pointing the same way too.

I went as far on the sides of the wreath as I could without getting it on the backside. Speaking of the backside, I glued a pop tab to the back of the wreath in order to hang it easily!

Photo bomb!

Love it!

Happy Easter!

Easy Hawaiian Chicken Bake!

We had my in-laws over the other night again and I was wanting to try something new and impressive, but still super easy for dinner. 

Enter this Easy Hawaiian Chicken Bake!

This dish seriously could not be easier! And it's amazing! It's great for a crowd or even for a romantic dinner just for two. 

I also thought about serving it for Easter dinner since something about pineapples screams Easter to me for some unknown reason! And, you can really up your game and make it ahead of time!

This Hawaiian Chicken Bake is also very Weight Watchers friendly! (Only 8 points per serving!)

Ingredients:

(based on four to five people)

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 to 2 sweet onions, quartered

1 large can of pineapple slices

A bottle of your fave BBQ sauce

1 package of smoked provolone cheese slices

First, start by quartering your onions and place them in the bottom of a sprayed baking dish.

Place your chicken breasts on top of the onions and season with salt and pepper. These are probably the thinnest chicken breasts I have ever seen. Normally, I get thicker ones, but it all tastes the same!

Next, drizzle your chicken and onions with your favorite BBQ sauce! If you are on Weight Watchers, measure it out for the points. That Kroger Sweet n Tangy BBQ sauce in the background is one of my favorites! It's, guess what ~ sweet and tangy!

Place the pineapple rings on top of the chicken.

Then top with the provolone cheese!

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the chicken reaches at least 165 degrees internally. After it reaches 165 degrees, take the foil off and return the chicken to the oven and cook until the cheese gets bubbly and a nice, golden brown.

Mmmmm! It is so good!

I also made an Angel Food Cake for dessert and topped it with Cool Whip Lite and fresh strawberries!

The quickest way to the hostess's heart is by bringing them flowers! Thanks, honey!

For all you Weight Watchers out there, this Hawaiian Chicken Bake is only 8 smart points per chicken breast! (The kind of bbq sauce and cheese you use will effect the exact pointage of the meal, this is just how much mine was. If you want exact points be sure to figure it out based on your options!)

Enjoy!

 

My Trip to Ireland!

Several years ago, I was lucky enough to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

It was one of the best days of my life.

My friend Sonia and I had spent the prior week traveling around Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, with her very accommodating relatives. We spent most of our time in and around county Antrim, including Lisburn and Belfast.

The last day of our trip happened to be St. Patrick's Day. We didn't plan it, it just so happened to work out that way. Talk about the luck of the Irish! Now, every St. Patrick's Day is a wonderful reminder of the most amazing adventure of my life.

We spent most of March 17th at Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. Giant's Causeway lies along the Northern Atlantic Ocean and is a cluster of hexagonal volcanic columns set amongst a backdrop of gorgeous basalt and Irish green mountains. The Causeway is estimated to be around 60 million years old! It is also a World Heritage site.

Just down the road from Giant's Causeway lies Dunluce Castle, another one of my favorite places. Dunluce Castle is the ruins of a medieval castle from the early 1500's (yes, the 1500's!) that fell into the sea below during a party one stormy night in 1639.

The one thing that we didn't do was party it up on St. Patrick's Day. We were sure the holiday would be huge over there, considering how it's celebrated in the States. I had brought this awesome green cocktail dress and we were planning to have the night of our lives. But, in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday! Not a party day like in America. Our "tour guide" cousin offered to take us down to Dublin where he said "the Americans come to party and celebrate," but we had an early flight the next day and didn't think it was going to be wise to drive two hours away (to a practically different country - Southern Ireland) to party.

I hope to be able to return to Ireland one day and see even more of the beautiful country! We only scratched the surface in a week's time and there's so much more I want to do. And relive!

I still pinch myself when I think about how lucky I was to be able to experience these awesome places, and Ireland in general. If you ever get the chance to go to Ireland ~ jump at it! You will never regret it! 


*** Disclaimer ***
I took these pictures pre-digital camera and then scanned them onto my computer. They are not the best quality! Remember the days before digital cameras and smart phones, when you took your shot and hoped for the best when the film got developed? You kids have no idea how good you have it now a days! So, yes these pics are not the greatest - but now they've got me itching to go back and get better pictures! I sincerely hope to go back one day. Ireland is truly beautiful and amazing!

The Irish countryside. The weather was perfect, and a little better than our typical March weather here in Indiana. It was slightly warmer in Ireland and some days it was bright and sunny like the picture above and others it was overcast and misting, which gave the country an almost mystical appearance.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took on our trip. It is the road to the Legananny Dolmen. It just encapsulates Ireland, in my opinion. It was raining a little bit and getting dark when we were there. I just remember trying to hang back from the crowd and take in the moment. I stood there looking down this road, thinking "This is Ireland."

 

This is Legananny Dolmen. It's about 5,000 years old and is actually some sort of a burial site! Gross, but cool. This is just one of many dolmens scattered across Ireland. It reminded me of Stonehenge!

An Irish traffic jam! This is a joke in Ireland, but you seriously do run across this ~ as evidenced by this photo! And check out the steering wheel on the other side of the car! I didn't get to drive while we were there, but I'd love to give it a try next time!

These are the Maghera Church ruins.

We went into Lisburn one day to do some shopping on Bow Street. I remember being in a store in Lisburn Town Square and hearing a Gwen Stefani song playing and I was in heaven! This street represents a lot of the architecture in Ireland. Look at how old most of the buildings look! And they are all connected, like row houses.

Dundrum Castle, or the ruins of it anyways! It was built in the 1100's and we were told that the movie Braveheart was filmed here!

Belfast Castle in, you guessed it, Belfast! This beautiful castle sits atop Cave Hill and looks out over Belfast Lough with a view of the shipyards where the Titanic was built!

This is a little courtyard at Belfast Castle that I just loved!

This is a field of daffodils we came across! Can you believe this! They were everywhere! Daffodils are my favorite flowers and I was in love! This is the inspiration for my creekside garden at home! Hopefully, one day it will at least slightly resemble this!

The "gateway" to Giant's Causeway, it's actually called The Giant's Gate. These hexagonal shaped volcanic rocks are everywhere you look at the Causeway.

The mountains surrounding the Causeway are beautiful. This is a long path that takes you around the area.

This area is what most people think of when they think of Giant's Causeway. The winds were so fierce the day we were there and the waves on the Northern Atlantic Ocean were ferocious. The week before we were there, a family was swept out to sea while standing on the rocks.

The gorgeous Antrim Coast.

Dunluce Castle. I once saw a book about Ireland in a bookstore and it had a picture of this area right where I was standing while taking this picture. I still kick myself for not having bought it! How many times do you see a photo of an exact place where you stood in a book?

These are the cliffs beside Dunluce Castle. It reminds me of something out of the movie, The Princess Bride!

If you can't get enough of Ireland, check out this awesome video of Giant's Causeway shot from a drone! It is so beautiful, it gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes! It's amazing and it makes me feel like I am right there again!


Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lucky Charms Rice Krispies!

You'll definitely want to steal these lucky charms! Lucky Charms Rice Krispie Treats, that is!

If you are looking for a quick and easy treat to make for St. Patrick's Day, look no further than these! Rice Krispie Treats are super easy to make and just by adding some Lucky Charms marshmallows into the mix and a little green food coloring, it transforms them into a tasty holiday treat ~ perfect for an office party, your kids school party, or just because!

Ingredients:

A 10oz bag of mini marshmallows
3 tbs butter
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup Lucky Charms marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Green food coloring

Begin by combining the Rice Krispies and Lucky Charms marshmallows in a bowl.

Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan over low heat.

After the butter is melted, add the bag of marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

Add the 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and stir.

Next, add your green food coloring. I used several more drops than shown here to make the treats even greener, but in the photos they don't look green at all! So, you may want to add A LOT of food coloring to darken them up. BUT, do it a few drops at a time and stir so you don't go too overboard! Also, I used gel food coloring, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

Keep stirring and adding more food coloring until it reaches the color you want.

I thought this was a pretty green, and they do have a green tint in real life, but like I said earlier ~ I would make it darker next time.

Next, pour in your rice krispie mix and stir until fully incorporated.

They set up very quickly, so stir fast!

Look at all that sticky goodness! Make sure you take off your rings for this next part so you don't get any of the marshmallows on them!!

Put the krispies into a (sprayed or buttered) 13 x 9 pan and spread to the edges, flattening with your clean hands as you go. I also added some more of the Lucky Charms marshmallows on top at this point because they started to melt.

You're supposed to let them cool before you cut them, but I think they are AMAZING warm! Try it next time! You won't regret it!

They are most definitely magically delicious!

Enjoy!