**Baby Shower**

Crystal and I first met in Ms. Lammers 3rd grade class when I moved to Elkhorn in 1988. We have been best friends ever since!! I am so excited for Crystal and her husband, Nate, to welcome a baby girl to their family in August. Soo...its only fitting for me and Crystals sister, Rachel, to throw Crystal a fabulous baby shower!
So, its really not my style to just go to the store and BUY invitations! That simply wouldn't do. So I made 40 invitation by hand! They actually took a lot longer to put together than I thought they would, so my great friend, Kelly, came over and helped me. THANKS, KELLY!!!
Here is the end results:

I think they turned cute! :) I think its going to be a really fun shower. And I can't wait to meet Crystal's little girl!! I keep telling her "Wende is a good name for a girl!" :)

Caramel Apple Salad

Mike and I were invited over to our friends Kelly and Brian's house for dinner...and we are bringing dessert. So I googled 100 calorie recipes and found this gem! Caramel Apple Salad. Totally easy to make and the few bites I have had so far it's pretty good too! So here's how you make it:

8 oz tub of Cool Whip Free
1 box sugar free Butter Scotch Pudding mix
14 oz can of Pineapple tidbits (with juice)--I found they didn't have 14 oz cans. I used a 20 oz can and took some out
4 large Red Delicious Apples
4 large Granny Smith Apples

Combine Butter Scotch Pudding mix with the pineapple tidbits with the juice. Mix together well and set aside.

Dice the apples into small pieces and combine with the Butter Scotch Pudding/Pineapple mixture. This is the only annoying part of this dessert.... dicing 8 large apples.... yeah..that takes some time...and makes a whole lot of dessert.

Once you are done dicing, fold in the cool whip topping. Continue to mix until all the apples are covered. Then chill. And you're done!

Super simple dessert and I think it will be a fun summer dessert!

Servings per recipe-16!! yea.. forgot to look at that before I made it... I think we'll be having leftovers!
Calories--90.7 !! yummy healthy dessert!
I will let you know how it goes over at Kelly and Brian's! :)

Nonfat Gingersnaps--kind of a pain in the ass... but very YUMMY!! :)

So I was searching the internet for healthy cookie recipes and I came across these! They were kind of a pain, but they are very good. They are soft gingersnaps cookies which is a little different but good! So here's how you make them:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar ( I didn't have dark so I used light...it worked fine! :))
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup molasses (preferable mild-flavored)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground dried ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (didn't have fresh...so I just used regular)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger (I grated the candied ginger...this was the pain in the ass part! Ginger is sticky and annoying to grate!!)
*additional sugar mixed with a big pinch of cinnamon for rolling the cookies

1-In the bowl of a standing electric mixer (enter my Christmas present from Mike--part of the reason I cook is to use the mixer!) beat the brown sugar, applesauce, and molasses for five minutes at medium speed, with the paddle attachment.

2-Meanwhile sift together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. (I didn't really sift, I just put them all in the bowl and mixed with a fork until they seemed to all be blended together... I should probably should invest in a sifter though...)

3-After five minutes, stop the mixer, scape down the sides, and add the egg whites. Beat another minute.

4-With the mixer at its lowest speed, add the dry ingredients until completely incorporated, and mix on medium for one minute more.

5-Stir in the chopped candied ginger. Chill the batter very well. (I made the mix on Wednesday night and left it in the fridge and made them on Thursday.)

6-To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F

7-Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (yea...I didn't have either of these.... or really know what to do... so I called my mom... she didn't know either. But we came up with the idea of greasing the pan with shortening and flouring the pan. This worked! :) )

8-Pour some cinnamon-scented granulated sugar in a shallow baking dish. Scoop the cookies into a heaping tablespoon-size balls (about the size of an unshelled walnut) and plunk them down into the sugar
Afterwards, use your hands to form the dough into sugar-coated balls: don't be shy with the sugar either. It not only helps to shape the sticky dough, but makes a lovely crust for the finished cookies.

9-Put the cookies mounds evenly-spaced on the two baking sheets, leaving room (at least 3 inches) between them to spread.

10-Bake for 13 minutes (I only had to bake for 11 minutes in my oven), or until the cookies fell just barely set in center. Remove from oven and cool.

Mike ate one right out of the oven...and he was all smiles! :) They are really good. It made almost 3 dozen cookies... Let me know anyone trys them!

Bad Blogging!

So, I am a really bad blogger! :) I have been somewhat busy with bags...and also my new hobby of cooking/baking. I made a pretty cute summer bag for myself (on the right). I have made a few bags for family members too, but haven't taken any pictures of them. I haven't been posting to Etsy recently. I am going to try to get a few things posted on my Etsy shop this summer. I have some fun idea's for bags. So hopefully I can make them into a reality and get somethings posted on my blog and also on Etsy.

I have decided that if I am going to learn how to cook I should learn how to cook healthy things. I started with healthy cookies. I always replace the butter/shortening that the recipe calls for with applesauce. This cuts the fat and makes them pretty healthy. The cookies have turned out pretty well so far. I have even had some people ask me for the recipe. So going forward I am not only going to be sharing my new sewing projects, I am going to be sharing my cooking projects :) I hope everyone enjoys!

HEARTS!!

On Etsy, if you like an item or a shop you can "heart" them and it add that shop or item to your favorites. This weekend I got 2 "hearts" from total strangers! Its really not that huge of a deal, but I was just excited to know that people are looking at my shop and though they didn't buy anything, they liked what they saw! :) Gives me encouragement to get cracking and post more items on my shop!
www.fivegreenpenguins.etsy.com

Merry Christmas, Joanna!

After seeing the purse that I made for Mike’s mom my director at work, Bob, asked if I could make a purse for his wife for Christmas. Of course I agreed. He sent me a link to a bag to give me an idea of what his wife would like. The link took me to Chanel. Really….Chanel? I had to break it to Bob that I don’t think I am really Chanel yet. He told me that it was just the color for the idea… and I could do whatever I wanted for that bag. So this is what I came up. This is my version of the Chanel bag. I am giving it to Bob tomorrow. I really hope he and Joanna like it! I think it turned out pretty cute!....ok… maybe not Chanel…but hey…the price tag wasn’t Chanel either!

This bag is 10 ¼ inch by 10 ¼ inch by 3 ½ inch. It has a large outside pocket and 2 inside pockets (one of which is a zipper pocket) and then has a magnetic closure.

"Thank you" bags

Delanie has made her grand entrance into this world!! We are all very excited to welcome her into our family! She just couldn’t wait any long to start this journey of life and was born about 4 weeks early on Oct. 13th!! Mom and baby are doing well. Delanie is still in hospital but will hopefully be ready to go home with Mom and Dad soon! Congrats again, Hollie and Dennis!!

My wonderful sister Hollie has some great friends that threw her fabulous baby showers! These showers were very special for my sister and she wanted to do something special for these lovely ladies that threw the parties! She commissioned me to make reusable shopping bags for them. She asked that they be large and functional… the rest I was give creative freedom! These bags are all 13in x 13.5in x 4.5in.

I hope Hollie likes them and more important I hope the women that she give them to likes them as well! I know Hollie truly appreciated all that they did for her! And I do too!! I wish I lived closer so I could have attended them!

To see all 7 of the bags and more images of them check them out on my Etsy shop
http://www.fivegreenpenguins.etsy.com/

Ms Delanie!

Thanks! :) Wende