A Pinterest pin that’s also a slow cooker recipe? Gotta love food- and blogging-related multitasking!

This crock pot chicken and dumplings recipe ranks right up there with our other favorite slow cooker recipe, creamy Italian chicken.
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Source: bubblecrumb.com via Emily on Pinterest

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I don’t have nearly as much to say about this recipe as I did the chocolate chip cookie n’ Oreo fudge brownie bars because this one was delicious and turned out perfectly on the first try.

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I did make a couple very small changes, mostly due to our larger family size: 4 full-size frozen chicken breasts; one can cream of mushroom soup and one can cream of chicken (I like a combo of the two); and a couple extra biscuits.

To complete the meal (and try one other new recipe), I served the dish over long grain white rice with a side of fingerling potatoes. I found the bag of colorful potatoes at Costco and cooked them using Alton Brown’s perfect fingerling potatoes recipe. And yes, it really does call for 1 1/4 pounds of kosher salt.

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We totally didn’t have a side of veggies that night, but my kids didn’t seem to mind. (Truth be told, neither did I.)

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Previous pinned & prepped recipes:

• No-bake peanut butter s’mores bars
• Tomato basil Parmesan soup
• Chocolate chip cookie n’ Oreo fudge brownie bar

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Want to see what else I’m pinning other than food and crafts? Find me on Pinterest here.

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Previous Slow Cooker Anyday recipes:

*sigh*

I had such high hopes for these chocolate chip cookie n’ Oreo fudge brownie bars. I mean, you’re combining three desserts into one: chocolate chip cookies, Oreos and brownies. And even though I’m more a fan of the Reduced Fat Oreos (less filling) than Double Stuf (way too much filling), those three layers of goodness were calling my name Monday night. Or maybe it was the photo.
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Source: kevinandamanda.com via Emily on Pinterest

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Actually, they were calling my Facebook friends’ names too once I’d uploaded a photo halfway through preparing the chocolate chip cookie n’ Oreo brownies:

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And yes, a Double Stuf Oreo is missing from the bottom right corner of the pan. When I pulled it from the package, it was slightly broken so I had to eat it. You would’ve done the same.

Unfortunately, once prepped and baked, mine looked nothing like the pinned photo and not just because I lack some skills in food photography.

I’m wondering if these would’ve turned out better in an 11×14-inch pan rather than a 9×13. I baked them 5 minutes longer than the longest time listed in the recipe, did the toothpick test and pulled them out before the edges started to burn. Sadly, the cookie dough on the bottom got pretty toasty while the brownies in the center remained raw.

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I was able to cut a good 3-inch or so border from just inside the edge of the pan…

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…but they look more like modern art than a dessert bar you could stack a mile high and top with hot fudge sauce.

I don’t think I’ll be making this recipe again, but I may do a variation on the theme.

You know, bake some chocolate chip cookies and a pan of brownies and grab a package of Reduced Fat Oreos. Then I’ll take a dessert plate and stack them starting with the cookie and ending with the brownie.  I’ll top it all with a solid scoop of vanilla ice cream and some homemade chocolate syrup.

Then I’ll do it all again the next night but mix it up by starting with the brownie on the bottom. Or maybe the Oreo. The possibilities are endless!

If you’d like to brave a batch of chocolate chip cookie n’ Oreo fudge brownie bars, here’s what you’ll need:

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Previous pinned & prepped recipes:

• No-bake peanut butter s’mores bars
• Tomato basil Parmesan soup

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Want to see what else I’m pinning other than food and crafts? Find me on Pinterest here.

Article first published as Taste Bud-Friendly Green Smoothies on Blogcritics.

I’ve been wanting to hop on the green smoothie bandwagon for a while now—not for the taste, mind you, but rather for the health benefits. I’ll always be a chocolate shake girl at heart.

Unfortunately I feared our blender wasn’t up to the task, something the blender proved when the rubber coupling broke. (It may have broken due to my shaking the blender a bit while blending, but dang it all, that ice wouldn’t blend!)

I had my eye on a Blendtec but a new one was out of the question and the local classifieds were seriously lacking in used Blendtec blenders (a good sign). Somehow my in-laws knew of my blender issues and gifted us with a Blendtec for Christmas. Hallelujah!

So I started my search for a green smoothie recipe that actually tasted good to this non-fruit-smoothie drinker, and lo and behold, I’ve found two so far. The one with the peaches is my most favorite, but I think you’ll find either one rather tasty.

Here’s to a healthier 2012!

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Green Berry Banana Smoothie
1 cup soy or almond milk
1 banana
2 cups spinach
1 cup frozen blueberries
Add ingredients to a blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Add more or less soy milk depending on your preferred consistency. If you prefer a sweeter smoothie, sweeten with honey or agave nectar.

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Peachy Green Smoothie
1 cup soy or almond milk
1 banana
2 cups spinach
1 1/4 cups frozen sliced peaches
Add ingredients to a blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Add more or less soy milk depending on your preferred consistency. If you prefer a sweeter smoothie, sweeten with honey or agave nectar.

P.S. I’m still on the hunt for a green smoothie that tastes just like a piña colada…or even better, the hot fudge shake from Sonic Drive-In.

Listen up, locals. If you’re as excited as I am to shop at experience the new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City, you’ll want to attend the Center’s Preview Gala & Charity Event the evening of Wednesday, March 21st from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

That’s the day before City Creek Center officially opens.

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Who wouldn’t love a sneak peek of downtown Salt Lake City’s newest shopping/dining/leisure-ing destination? (I love making up new words, don’t you?) While sneak peeking you’ll enjoy:

• Complimentary parking
• Ongoing entertainment
• Food and refreshments
• A hospitality suite with DJ, hors d’ oeuvres, beer and wine

By the way, you can totally have my alcohol if you’ll give me your Diet Coke.

And let’s not forget an entire evening of shopping without the grand opening crowds!

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Even better—I know…what’s better than crowd-free shopping at fabulous stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom, Michael Kors, Tiffany & Co., BCBGMAXAZRIA, Papyrus, Porsche Design and Coach , but seriously, this is better—100% of the ticket sales from the Gala benefit local charities including The Road Home, Ballet West, Junior League of Salt Lake City and Utah’s Hogle Zoo.

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One adult ticket is $50. Guests will receives a $20 VISA gift card upon arrival at the Gala—a gift card that can be used at any of the City Creek Center retailers.

I love it when someone enables my shopping habit.

Guests will also receive exclusive deals at the shops plus the awesome experience of being one of the first to shop at City Creek Center before it officially opens.

You can purchase tickets and read more about the event on City Creek Center’s website at ShopCityCreekCenter.com/charityevent.asp. Tickets are LIMITED and sure to sell out quickly, so don’t wait!

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Still not ready to purchase tickets? Let me give you a few more reasons why you should attend the City Creek Center Preview Gala & Charity Event:

1. I will be there and shopping and eating is way more fun with friends.
2. If you come and bring a male “plus one,” the men can hang and chat while we shop (less painful for everyone involved).
3. You’d be supporting local charities and everyone should support a worthy cause whenever they can.
4. If you’re supporting a local charity by attending, everything you buy that evening is tax deductible.*

* Totally not true but it sure sounds good.

A while ago a computer simulation of the new City Creek Center circulated among locals (and families of locals) alike:
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City Creek Center from Nancy on Vimeo.

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And now we’re talking about attending a pre-opening event. Crazy.

If you’d like to see actual photos of the Center, you’ll find a photo gallery organized by month on the City Creek Center website. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Perhaps this week’s family night activity will consist of crafting a paper chain to count down the days until the Gala. (No one will mind as long as dessert is involved.)

Hope to see you March 21st!

This week’s pinned & prepped Pinterest pin (say that quickly ten times) is a batch of no bake peanut butter s’mores bars from my food board. I was dying to make a yummy dessert, so I browsed my food pins to find something for which I had all the ingredients on hand.

And who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate? (If you don’t love peanut butter and chocolate, don’t tell me or we can’t be friends.)
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Source: thewannabechef.net via Emily on Pinterest

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Here’s my take on these s’mores bars (original recipe from The Wannabe Chef):

They’re extremely decadent and delicious.

The recipe calls for 16 graham crackers. We learned this means 8 sheets (16 squares). Guess how much fun it is to double the crust when you’ve already put it in an 8×8-inch pan? Super fun.

I could not get the chocolate to melt to a “smooth and runny” consistency with the butter. Trust me, I tried both in the microwave and over low heat on the stove. Just look at the casualties:

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Yep, that chocolate seized more than once.

Also, because my chocolate never got smooth and runny (i.e., pourable), I needed twice as much to cover the peanut butter and marshmallows in the pan. My advice? Double the amount of chocolate chips and melt them without the butter. (For info on how best to melt chocolate, check out this tutorial.) Then pour what you have over your marshmallows. It should look something like this after it’s set:

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If it’s winter and you live in northern Utah, you can place the pan on the back porch for 10 minutes to set—maybe even less—and serve no bake peanut butter s’mores bars to the family in record time (after spending hours trying to get the *@#% chocolate melted).

And they’ll polish off an entire pan in one sitting. Trust me.

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Ingredients you’ll need for this dish:

Graham crackers
Butter
Peanut butter
Powdered sugar
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips

You’ll also need a double batch if you want any leftovers for breakfast—I mean, dessert—the next day.

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Previous pinned & prepped recipes:

• Tomato basil Parmesan soup

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Want to see what else I’m pinning other than food and crafts? Find me on Pinterest here.

I have to admit, Kermit the Frog made a great case for the difficulty of being green when he shared this on The Muppets many years ago. (Some of us still remember it…sad but true.)
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Lucky for Kermit, being green has become oh, so much cooler since he first sang his sad tune.

It’s all about reduce, reuse, recycle and eBay wants to make it as easy as possible for you to do this by launching a site dedicated to being green.

Say hello to eBay Green, your new destination for eco-friendly education, inspiration and shopping:

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Did you catch the tagline?

“Inspiring the world to buy, sell and think green every day.”

Awesome.

If you hover over the graphic on the eBay Green homepage, pop-ups appear with ideas to get you thinking green. For example, I hovered over that adorable wingback chair and this popped up:

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Before you think eBay Green is simply a shopping portal, check out Green Team Talks where you can get educated on things like composting, the impact of the aluminum can and even eBay’s partnership with Patagonia as they launched their Common Threads program.

Have a question? Try posting it in Ask the Green Team Community where other eBay Green community members can help answer. (Be patient…the community is brand new and still growing!)

My favorite aspect of the new eBay Green site is the lists. Community members* can create Eco Shopping Lists on everything from cleaning supplies to the greenest of baby nurseries. I even tried my hand at the list thing creating two of them: Going Green at Sundance and Yoga for mind, body and earth.

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Now I just need to find things to sell so I can post my own “green” things in an Eco Shopping List.

By the way, you’d be surprised what’s considered green when you look past things like bamboo, reusable totes and organic cotton. Try these adjectives on for size: refurbished, pre-owned (aka “pre-loved”), and repurposed. Pretty much anything—with the exception of old appliances—is “green” if it’s already in existence and you can use it. To quote my favorite eBay Green Team member:

“The greenest product is one that already exists.”

Amen, JD. For some reason I’d never thought of it that way before. Heck, thanks to eBay, I’ve been doing the green thing for close to 14 years and didn’t even know it. Awesome!

One last thing. Check out eBay’s super cool “green” boxes:

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These babies are:

• Made from 100% recycled content and are 100% recyclable.
• Made to be used over and over again.
• Numbered so you can tack your box as it moves across the country.
• Designed with a place where sellers can include a note to buyers.
• Inspiring thanks to suggestions printed on the box for things you could easily sell and ship in that very container.

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But enough about eBay Green and their super nifty boxes. (I’m still trying to get my hands on one.)

I bet you’d like to know how you can do that whole “rolling in the green” thing and I’m more than happy to tell you. It does require a little bit of eco-friendliness on your part but I think you can handle it.

For your chance to win that $1,000 eBay gift card, follow these steps below:

1. Visit http://green.ebay.com/.
2. Sign with your eBay User ID and password.
3. Join the Green Team (link is at the bottom of the page).
4. On the homepage (green.ebay.com) identify the “Greener Alternative” and “Eco Shopping Lists” sections.
5. Next to these sub headers, you’ll see “add an item” or “create a list.”
6. To enter the contest, select the proper category and click on “add an item” or “create a list.”
7. By adding an item URL from the eBay marketplace and explaining why it’s a greener alternative or creating a list of eco items, you are entered to win.
8. Once the listing appears on the site, you are entered to win a $1,000 eBay gift card!

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Note: The items you add can be anything from the marketplace; you could even choose an item you’re selling for further promotion. The contest limits one entry per category for every user.

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Actually, I’m thinking all my Rhonna DESIGNS endeavors are going to be baby steps. No grownup steps here! We’ll leave those “big people” steps to Rhonna and the rest of the cReative Team.

Remember that Wicked Witch Halloween printable? Well, this is about as crafty as that; in fact, probably even less so.

Wait, am I walking backwards? *sigh*

You won’t want to print the following project, but at least it shows you that Rhonna’s kits can be used for even the simplest of projects.

I give you an invite I designed for an upcoming Young Women’s activity. Personal interviews are never very exciting, so I thought if I spiced up the invite, the girls might be more inspired to come. I used a border from the Rhonna DESIGNS Frameworks kit and a letter from her Monogram Junque Kit.

I started the project in Photoshop Elements 7 but had horrible luck with the printout. In desperation I switched to Microsoft Word, which worked in a pinch but might have caused me to think a few swear words in the process.

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The next project I want to conquer is putting up our family’s 2012 motto and goals, but that’s going to take some serious caffeine and chocolate and my stash is running low. Once I’m stocked up, I’ll dive in.

Until then, maybe I’ll finally get around to addressing those family New Year’s cards.

Who am I kidding? That requires a lot of caffeine as well.

I just posted a giveaway over on SassyScoops.com for a full-conference pass to Story@Home, a blogging/storytelling/family history conference in Salt Lake City March 9th and 10th. It’s going to be fabulous! I mean, who doesn’t love inspiring keynotes, fab workshops and great storytelling all wrapped up into one?

So head over to SassyScoops.com to read more about the conference. You might even find out which track I’m planning to attend (might be Storytelling); which speakers you’ll hear (may be CJane and Rachael Herrscher); and how much this conference costs (only $79—can you believe it?!?!).

Before you leave to enter the giveaway, I had to share with you this photo taken over 8 years ago. Talk about some sweet storytelling!
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My mom reading books to Madison (now 14) and Lauren (now 12).

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Story@Home website: http://www.cherishbound.com/blog/storyathome/
Story@Home Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/StoryHome/175409965858537

P.S. You can also enter to win over at my friend Stacy’s blog: Not Just a Housewife. Good luck…hope to see you there!