Fruity Cheesecake Chimichangas

I think we just discovered a goldmine. A fat laden, sugar filled, super yummy goldmine. My kids and I were just sitting around on this lazy summer evening and we all got a hankering for some dessert. It is a couple of days before payday so we are low in funds and food and my car is temporarily out of commission (just keeping it real,) so I had to use what I had on hand. I searched my stockpile and came up with a brick of cream cheese and some frozen peaches. Seemed like a good start for something yummy. I wasn't in the mood to turn on the oven and heat up the house or anything like that so it needed to be prepared in another way.

I remembered seeing on Pinterest, a recipe for strawberry burritos. I thought, "does it really have to be strawberries??" My answer to myself was "No, of course not!" So my brain churned and I pulled out my package of tortillas, and got to work.

I started by melting 2 T butter in a frying pan and adding 2 cups of frozen peaches, defrosted and cubed up, 1/4 cup sugar, 3 T flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and stirred it all up until it was bubbly and thickened. Then I set it aside to cool.

Next, I creamed my room temperature 8 oz brick of cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar, then blended in 1 tsp. vanilla and set that bowl aside.

I spread the bottom half of each tortilla
with an even layer of the cream cheese mixture, then topped it with the cooled peach mixture.

Following that, I rolled them in typical burrito fashion and pan fried them in a small amount of oil (gotta be mindful of the calories and fat. lol.)

 Immediately following removal from the frying pan, I rolled them in a cinnamon sugar mixture and placed them on a platter to cool a bit. Then I gave them to my kids who proclaimed me a genius. (I love it when that happens.) Happy evening kid-friendly dessert surprise, that is for sure. I decided that they could be done with any fruit really. Why not apricots, or cherries or apples, or pumpkin in the fall?! Oh man, gonna be a fattening adventure. ;-)

Wooden Disc Necklace Gift

A while back, I had made some washer jewelry with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and scrapbook paper and a couple of embellishments. They became pretty popular both on Pinterest AND in real life with the people who received them as gifts. Got me thinking... I wonder if I could come up with something else using the same technique. I had recently picked up some wooden circle discs and discovered that they would be perfect to make some pendants with. So, as luck would have it, I needed another gift idea for my MOPS table mates to celebrate the end of our year. I made them each their own necklace with an affirming word decoupaged onto it and some little rhinestones and a scrapbooking paper flower embellishment.While I was at it, I made myself one, only I skipped the affirmation and rhinestone and added my initial and a pearl bead. Finally, I screwed in a tiny eye hook and hung it on leather cording. Works for me!

Polka Dot Teacher Appreciation Frame

I needed a gift for my daughter's teacher. We have really been blessed to have her this  year. This is her first year at our school and I can say that she is such a great addition to the staff! You can tell she really cares about her kids. That leads to happy Moms and awesome kid learners. So, I am her room parent. End of the year means a gift. What was I to do?? We never have a lot of spare money these days but I always seem to have an abundance of craft supplies. I mean, I could have gotten her a gift card to somewhere, but, that didn't seem cheap thoughtful enough for me. So I began to peruse Pinterest and then rummage through my stash. Started with a wreath idea I saw, with pencils around a chalkboard in a sunburst pattern. I had the materials so I gave it a shot. Ended up hating it. Then I decoupaged a frame I had on hand and printed a "welcome" sign to put in the frame. I started to like what I was doing. Then I added pencils to the top of the frame to give a "princessy" crown feel. Ended up hating it again. I couldn't seem to ditch the pencil idea. Well, I polled my crafty buddies and asked them what they thought. The opinions were unanimous. LOSE THE PENCILS. Okay, I thought. I will abandon my original inspiration. Guess what... They were right! It looked so cute and I can say that I am very happy with the final result. So it will not be a hanging wreath decoration, but will be a cute frame and will rest on a handy dandy plate holder/rack from Hobby Lobby. Another year done. Thank you Mrs. Carrillo for a fabulous year!