Chocolate Coconut Granola Bars

4 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2/3 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Honey
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Coconut

Preheat oven to 325*. Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the chocolate chips and coconut.


Press mixture into the pan. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

4 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
1 (10 3/4 oz) can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 envelope Onion Soup Mix
1 cup Milk
4 tbsp Cream Cheese


Place chicken into crock pot.
Mix the cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix and milk together. Pour over chicken.
Cook on low 5-6 hours.
During last hour of cooking add cream cheese.
Stir and serve over rice.

In The Spotlight

Several weeks ago Julia, from A Little Bit of All of It, interviewed me for her Reader Spotlight. If you click on the button below you can read the interview. Julia blogs about well, a little bit of all of it. From her faith in Christ, to being a wife and mom and whole lot more.

Homemade Play Dough

2 cups Flour
1 cup Salt
4 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Food Coloring
2 cups Water
2 Tbsp. Oil

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until very, very, thick. Turn out onto counter; cool; knead.

Homemade Cleaning Wipes

1 roll of Paper Towels
1 Plastic Food Storage Container
1 cups Vinegar
1/2 cup Rubbing Alcohol
1 1/2 cups Water



For best results, select an extra-large roll of good quality paper towels for this project.

Use an electric knife to cut the paper towel roll into two shorter rolls. Be patient! It may take up to two minutes to cut through the towel roll and cardboard tube inside.

Place one short paper towel roll inside plastic food storage container. Using a liquid measuring cup, gently pour cleaning solution over the top of the paper towel roll.

Wait about 5 minutes and take the cardboard tube out of the center.

Homemade Mosquito Repellent

1 tsp. Lavender Essential Oil
10 tsp. Rubbing Alcohol
20 tsp. Water

Combine ingredients and put into a spray bottle. Shake before using.

4th of July Giveaway Winning Recipe: Fruity Peacock

Here is the winning recipe by Cortney:



Choose a watermelon that is not too big and fairly round. Cut a little bit off one end so it is stable on your plate. Take either a toothpick, pencil or marker to sketch out the shape you will eventually cut. In the picture, I made the tail round, but you could do scallops or a zig-zag even. The shape of the head is important. Follow the picture to give you an idea.

Then take a knife and follow your line. Cut out your shape and leave the chunks that you cut off as big as you can so you can use the fruit within. If you take just little bits at a time, it won't be as usable.

When you've got most of your shape cut out, take a melon ball utensil and gut the watermelon. As you can see in the photo, I was able to get many melon balls, but also wedges taken from the chunks that I cut out. When using a melon ball utensil, take care not to dig too deep into the white flesh. You don't want the rind too thin and it's better if the inside is all the same color, preferably red.

The skewers are the next important part. Use 5 or 7 wooden skewers and load with fruit chunks. An odd number is best since one would stick straight up and the rest would be even. It's ideal if you can do a pattern of large fruit, small fruit including peeled and sliced kiwi. Kiwi is a little difficult to work with since it's so soft, but the effect is awesome since they represent the "eyes" in a peacock's tail. If you can't or don't want to work with kiwi, other large, round slices of another fruit would be okay. Make sure all the skewers are loaded with the same pattern of fruit.

Stick the first skewer right in the top of the "tail". Stick it down far enough that it won't fall over. Make sure there is no skewer showing above the top fruit. Add the other skewers around the "tail" at even intervals.

Blueberries are the next important element. Use three toothpicks. Cut about 1/3 off two of the picks. Using the picture as a guide, put a blueberry on each toothpick and place on the "head" of the peacock. Use the 1/3 that was cut off and place a blueberry on that and stick on front of "head" as an eye.

Put whole peacock on decorative plate that has a lip. Juices may drain! Add cut fruit to peacock bowl and around plate for garnish. Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Roll Ups

14 oz. Coleslaw Blend
3/4 cup Coleslaw Dressing
1 small each Green Pepper and Red Pepper, Cut into strips
1 small Onion, thinly sliced
Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder to taste
4 Bonless Skinless Chicken Breasts
18 oz bottle of your favorit BBQ Sauce
10 Flour Tortillas

Place chicken and bbq sauce in crock pot for 5-6 hours.
Shred chicken and put the chicken back into the sauce.
Toss coleslaw blend with coleslaw dressing; set aside.
Season the green pepper and onion with salt, pepper,and garlic powder and saute until tender.

Spoon chicken onto tortilla. Then add some of the pepper and onion mixture. Then add some of the coleslaw. Roll up and eat!